The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A niche Bahamian telecommunications provider is aiming to get back into the home phone and Internet market, after being “held hostage” for 18 months while the industry’s interconnection/call termination issue were sorted out.

Leslie Pindling, Jazztell’s managing director, told Tribune Business that with the Bahamas Telecommunications Company’s (BTC) Reference Access and Interconnection Offer (RAIO) approved by regulators, and his company having finally achieved an interconnection agreement with the newly-privatised carrier, he was set to “get back to putting phones on the market”.

Disclosing to Tribune Business that it had been “a hell of a fight” for Jazztell to not only survive, but establish itself as an alternative in the market, Mr Pindling said the company currently had about 150 clients for its wireless landline phone service.

Mr Pindling said it was in the process of giving its existing customer base new numbers. The company also had 400-500 customers for its Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) Internet product.

Explaining that Jazztell had to put its phone/Internet plans on hold for between 14 to 18 months while the Utilities Regulation & Competition Authority (URCA) sorted out BTC’s interconnection rates and terms, Mr Pindling said: “We had to wait for the RAIO to be worked out and approved, and the interconnection agreement had to be solidified.

“Our goal, particularly if all the rates can be adjusted lower, is to get back to putting phones on the market. It’s taken us a long time to get to this point. It kind of holds you hostage when it’s part of your business plan, and you’re stuck.”

Expressing optimism that Jazztell could become a third phone company in the Bahamas, standing alongside BTC and Cable Bahamas, Mr Pindling added: “Digicel has been wanting to come in for a long time, and if these companies want to come in, there must be market share for everybody.

“If we had three phone companies, the Bahamas would be a better place. Jazztell is a lot bigger than we conceive. If BTC can call us a competitor, and we are not even at a percentage of the market share, that states what we can be.

“The growth potential for Jazztell, not only in Internet but phone, is huge. The growth potential is great.”

Jazztell requires regulatory certainty in the interconnection/call termination market to become a player, something that is coming slowly but surely. With itself and other smaller, niche operators having to use the infrastructure and networks of BTC, and Cable Bahamas, they will only survive through a regulatory ‘level playing field’ that prevents them from being ‘squeezed out’.

“We’re loving it,” Mr Pindling told Tribune Business of attempts to squeeze Jazztell out. “It’s been a hell of a fight. We’ve had our hands tied behind our back, and feet bound, but it’s been great.

“We’re waiting to see how this [URCA’s proposed reductions to BTC’s call termination rates] go before we bring more online. We have three more companies wanting to terminate through us, all ex-BTC customers. What they’re happy for is competition. That’s all they’re happy for..... They know we are all held hostage by BTC.”

Mr Pindling added that the regulatory “precedent” URCA will likely set with BTC would “filter down” to Cable Bahamas, his company having been unable to obtain an interconnection agreement with the latter as yet.

“That will come in time,” he said. “I like the deregulation. I’m glad it happened... This has been a really good, progressive change.

“It’s taken a while, but Rome was not built in a day, and we do not expect the Bahamas to change in a day when there’s been a monopoly all its life.”