The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

The  BAHAMAS Telecommunications Company (BTC) is looking at a potential $30 million roaming revenue loss in its upcoming financial year after foreign carriers threatened to block their customers from using their phones in the Bahamas.

Leon Williams, BTC’s chief executive, told a Bahamas Society of Engineers (BSE) luncheon that its overseas roaming partners were forcing it to switch to billing cellular customers on a per second basis, as opposed to the current per minute charges it is levying.

While some may consider BTC’s charging method a ‘rip off’, any blocks imposed by foreign carriers could have had disastrous implications for the tourism industry and wider Bahamian economy.

 Mr Williams said BTC has had to adjust its roaming charge structure, which will mean a further revenue loss for the company. 

“Two weeks ago, AT&T called and Rogers called, and said that we needed to reduce roaming rates and, if we didn’t, they would block their customers roaming in the Bahamas,” Mr Williams said.

“We reduced the roaming rates to the neighbourhood of almost $2.5 million, we estimate, in revenues, which will take the roaming down $25-$30 million for the year 2015-2016.

“We are presently doing per minute billing. We have to do per second billing. Right now, if you call and speak for 30 seconds we charge you for the minute. If you speak for a minute and a half,  we charge you for two minutes. Per second billing will take $2.5 million per month off the balance sheet.”

The BTC chief executive also said he would not worry about who its new mobile competitor will be, adding that his current focus was on maximising revenues and creating new business opportunities.

Mr Williams added: “There are there different potential competitors. They all have three different  profiles. I’m not going to waste time with my executives to work out the strategy for three different competitors.

“When the Government announces who it is we will sit down and work out a strategy. The Prime Minister said that it would be some time in May that he will make an announcement, so I will wait until May.

“I have a network to build. I don’t have time to sit down in a war room to think about what our strategy is going to  be; if this one or that one gets it. It makes not sense to me.”

According to the Cellular Liberalisation Task Force, while nine groups had obtained the Request for Proposal (RFP) document, just three came through with completed bids. The three contenders, one of whom will likely be BTC’s first mobile competitor before year’s end, are Digicel (Bahamas) Holdings Ltd; BISX-listed Cable Bahamas; and Virgin Mobile Bahamas.

“Right now we are trying to maximise the revenues and trying to find new ways to create new revenue steams,” said Mr Williams, adding that fixed-line voice traffic was no longer a profit generator, and BTC was instead looking at ways to generate revenue from its data network.

“The money will not come from voice. Anyone who is sitting and deciding that BTC  can make money in a competitive  environment and survive from voice is in a pipe dream. It requires new revenue streams,” said Mr Williams.