Fixed-line number portability will finally launch in the Bahamas today, after regulators granted both Cable Bahamas and the Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) their Certificates of Readiness.
The main beneficiaries will be Bahamian businesses and residential customers, who will be able to switch fixed-line providers without having to change their number - a move that entrenches the benefits of competition.
BTC said it had invested $2.3 million to make number portability happen.
“Getting to a state of readiness took much more than a simple flick of a switch. Despite the much-hyped delay in the original September deadline, the fact remains, the industry has brought this key consumer benefit to market in just over two years, when the process usually takes up to four years. In one Caribbean country it took six years to port,” said Marlon Johnson, BTC’s vice-president of sales and marketing.
“We reject any suggestion that we are not fully prepared for competition. Competition is a fact of business, and we are confident that our loyal customer base will always choose the only telephone provider that provides true nationwide coverage to the Bahamas.”
URCA’s director of policy and regulation, Stephen Bereaux, said it was satisfied with the state of fixed number portability readiness.
“We have not only looked at their tests but we have tested the systems ourselves. We’ve tried it, and it works,” he said of the two companies.
“What our industry has achieved and the timeframes they have achieved it in is best practice in the region, this is a benchmark.”
The process of bringing number portability to the Bahamas began in April 2011 when URCA launched its initial public consultation. The December 2 launch date brings the implementation process to an approximate two-and-a-half year conclusion, as opposed to places like the Cayman Islands, where it took about seven years, and other Caribbean countries which, after several years of working towards number portability, have yet to achieve the goal.
URCA added that it will continue to monitor the portability system, plus the consumer experience with number porting, to ensure the service remains at the required standard.
The system used will be the basis for future mobile telephone number portability, when that market is opened to a second provider.
Number portability will only be available in four islands: Abaco, Eleuthera, Grand Bahama and New Providence are the only islands with more than one home phone provider.
“We anticipate this will be so for some time, not because of any effort on our part to block competition. But our competitors do not seem to be fully committed to nationwide coverage. They are the largest player in the Internet market, with the capacity to provide Internet service to the entire Bahamas, and yet they fail to do so. What is worse, as a Significant Market Power player they are obligated to do so,” said Mr Johnson, in a pop at Cable Bahamas.
“They have not met this basic obligation – which is the core of their business – at a time when it is so critical for the entire Bahamas to be connected online. So why should consumers expect their home phone service to be any different; that they would not indiscriminately leave out some islands?”
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