The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Aliv and the Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) were locked in a new battle yesterday, after the latter’s assertion they had reached agreement on a 100-site infrastructure sharing deal was disputed by its new mobile competitor.

The two rivals were at odds after BTC issued a press release stating they had “signed an agreement” giving Aliv access to its mobile network sites under a co-location arrangement.

Aliv, in a subsequent statement, said it had only received BTC’s “final co-location terms” on Wednesday afternoon, implying that no agreement had been reached as it was still checking the offer to determine if it met its requirements.

Aliv, which has broken BTC’s 16-year mobile monopoly, also disputed other material facts and statements in the incumbent’s initial release, especially the assertion that it is delivering its services via BTC’s own network.

Damian Blackburn, Aliv’s top executive, refuted comments attributed to his BTC counterpart, Leon Williams, that the new mobile operator will be delivering services via a Mobile Virtual Network (MVNO) arrangement.

And, comparing the two releases, it appears that Aliv is also disputing BTC’s characterisation of the co-location fee it will pay to the latter as “nominal”. Aliv’s statement instead said it would be paying “a market rate”.

Johnny Ingle, Aliv’s ‘chief champion’ (chief marketing officer), did not comment much beyond Aliv’s response when contacted on the matter by Tribune Business last night.

He repeated the company’s statement, which said Aliv had been waiting some seven to nine months to receive BTC’s co-location offer, having first requested terms following its license award in summer 2016.

“ALIV received from BTC final co-location terms on Wednesday afternoon, April 5, 2017, which we are currently in the process of checking,” the new mobile operator said.

“We have been waiting for these final terms since summer 2016, when we first and proactively requested co-location from BTC. We welcome BTC’s recent decision to provide co-location to ALIV, despite the length of time that this has taken. We now look forward to BTC fully co-operating with ALIV so that the customers of the Family Islands can now enjoy a true LTE experience, as quickly as possible in 2017, with ALIV.”

Mr Ingle added: “We have literally only received these terms after months and months and months. The bottom line is that we began the process in summer 2016, and have only now - on Wednesday afternoon - received from them the terms for co-location.”

The co-location delay is likely to be interpreted by some observers as standard behaviour by communications operators the world over, who have little incentive to co-operate with liberalisation and allow new entrants to simply swoop in and steal market share and consumers.

BTC’s statement, which studiously avoided mentioning its new rival by name, painted a very different picture by suggesting that the two rivals had actually signed a co-location agreement.

“BTC today made it official, signing an agreement enabling the country’s second mobile provider access to over 100 mobile sites on its network,” the BTC release stated.

It then quoted Mr Williams, its chief executive, as saying: “The agreement for co-location, or tower sharing, now enables the second mobile provider, who previously had no infrastructure in the Family Islands, to offer mobile services.

“This is, of course, through the use of BTC’s bigger, better network. The agreement provides for the use of sites ranging from Paradise Island to Inagua.”

BTC said it had received Aliv co-location requests for more than 20 sites in Andros, and more than 10 sites in Grand Bahama and Long Island. Sites in Abaco, Acklins, the Berry Islands, Cat Island, Crooked Island, Eleuthera, Exuma, Ragged Island, San Salvador, Rum Cay and New Providence were also included.

Co-location, which is a standard practice in the global communications industry, involves BTC and Aliv sharing the same mobile tower sites and other network facilities, particularly on the Family Islands.

When agreement is reached, Aliv will be able to locate its own equipment on BTC’s sites, enabling the two operators to deliver services to Bahamians via their own, separate networks.

Co-location is also a policy mandated by the Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority (URCA), which requires that it occur where technically and economically feasible. It is designed to both minimise network build-out costs and environmental impact.

BTC yesterday said it would be paid “a nominal fee” by Aliv for use of its sites, something the latter then appeared to dispute by saying it would pay its rival “a market rate”.

“In line with URCA regulations, the rate that BTC will charge ALIV is the same rate offered to other such third parties currently using BTC sites in a similar fashion,” Aliv said.

“This form of infrastructure sharing will mean that ALIV operates its own super-fast, video capable, next generation LTE network from BTC tower locations.”

Mr Williams was then quoted as saying that Aliv will deliver services via a MVNO arrangement, where it uses BTC’s network infrastructure - rather than its own - to reach Bahamian consumers.

He implied that this was not “fair” towards BTC, and did not represent “competition in its true essence”.

“Essentially, the second mobile provider will be offering services as a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO), where they do not own the wireless infrastructure that they use to provide services,” Mr Williams said.

“Although BTC would receive some level of compensation, it pales in comparison to the investment that we have made over the many years that we have provided services to the people of the Bahamas.

“In order for one to truly have ‘competition’, the playing field should be fair and balanced. What we see happening here is not competition in its true essence.

“Although we have signed the agreement in principle, we have to ensure that this request for infrastructure sharing will not compromise the quality and reliability of our network. After all, it is the customer that is most important in this scenario. What’s worthwhile for customers to note, though, is that through this MVNO set-up, they will still be using BTC’s network for mobile services.”

This drew an immediate rebuttal from Mr Blackburn, who said: “As a founding management team member of Virgin Mobile, the world’s first Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO), I would like to assure the people of the Bahamas that this is not an MVNO agreement where the MVNO leases the network from a mobile operator.

“Instead, this agreement will enable ALIV to deploy its world-class LTE network on every island, rock and cay of the Bahamas, and BTC will earn the industry standard market rate in return for use of its towers.”

Mr Blackburn, in a previous interview, identified co-location and Aliv’s ability to ‘roam’ on BTC’s network as two separate and distinct issues that had to be agreed.

URCA last July ruled that Aliv should be allowed to use BTC’s network to deliver its services, especially in the Family Islands, for a period of 24 months until its own infrastructure is built-out. The two operators now also have to agree commercial terms for this to take place.

Should BTC’s terms prove unsatisfactory, and further delays be incurred, Aliv is likely to make good on Mr Blackburn’s previous promise to execute a ‘Plan A’ and build on 100 mobile network site options it has already taken.

Hinting at Aliv’s frustration in his interview with Tribune Business, Mr Blackburn said then: We are dependent on co-location. While we lost a bit of patience trying to agree co-location between last July and early this year, we went out and acquired sites to build, and filed for permission to build with URCA.

“BTC indicated that we’d co-locate. If we’re slowed down in the process, we will revert to Plan A, which is to build. URCA has been giving us approvals where there is no co-location opportunity.”

He added that co-location was “a complex engineering process”, where both Aliv and BTC’s personnel needed to work closely together to ensure their electronic radio equipment did not interfere with the other’s network.

“We would expect that within a few months of signing a co-location agreement, provided BTC co-operates, that we will have a network operating on sites that are co-located,” Mr Blackburn said.

Aliv said yesterday that it has submitted its Family Islands roll-out plans to URCA, with the BTC terms “the final piece of the jigsaw” that will determine if it builds new towers, or uses BTC’s “old towers” under this agreement.

Mr Williams, meanwhile, touted the merits of BTC’s infrastructure, saying: “As a significant market power over the years, BTC has invested in a world class, top notch, mobile network, now offering the latest in 4G-LTE mobile technology to an archipelagic nation.

“Many new entrants in mobile markets tend to take this approach (co-location) rather than build out a network as it is viewed as not being economically feasible. This route also makes it easier for the provider to cease operations at any time as it has no tangible ties.

“In the Caribbean, BTC is lauded as having one of the most advanced networks. We definitely view this as an endorsement by the second mobile provider; they are obviously confident in our ability to provide a top notch experience to their potential customers.”