First published in The Tribune on Friday, December 7, 2007 under the byline, Young Man's View.
THE Bahamas Telecommunications Company is one of the Bahamas’ worst service providers and should be immediately privatized in its entirety.
Presently, Batelco appears to be an entity that is intent on maintaining a cruel monopoly while seemingly fleecing the general public for poor, overpriced services.
BTC’s obstruction of competition is disingenuous to consumers who are held ransom by bureaucracy and the patent protectionism shown to this government corporation.
In recent times, BTC has spent millions on promotional exercises but has consistently failed to deliver efficient services, particularly as it relates to their “halfway” operational, defective GSM network. Just this week, like many other GSM customers, I was prevented from sending text messages due to system glitches. Further more, even though my text messages never arrived to the intended recipient, BTC proceeded to charge me.
How is it that cellular phone services in Jamaica are much cheaper and efficient? Could the reason be that the threat of consumers leaving one company for its competition keeps all service providers on the cutting edge of technology? And, why is BTC seeking so fervently to thwart competition?
Since the late 1980s, the government has sought to privatize BTC, with the expectation of better quality services and that private sector management practices would be adopted. Led by the Deutsche Bank, a group of consultants attempted to guide BTC’s privatization process from as early as 1988—when I was four! Initially, it was suggested that the labour force at the corporation be reduced in restructuring exercises.
Eventually, more than 700 employees were let go, many with hefty severance packages. However, due to political cronyism, BTC is again overstaffed and that fact may discourage potential suitors from purchasing an interest in the corporation.
The original consultants had also recommended that BTC’s sale be initiated through a bidding process, but this has hardly yielded any eager purchasers. During that era, the Public Utilities Commission was also established to regulate the telecommunications industry although it appears to have been a hindrance to BTC’s privatization and moreover, to competition.
The quality of service provided by Batelco is simply unacceptable.
In changing its approach to service, BTC must first teach its customer service representatives to appreciate and value their customers, how to be courteous and polite and, even more satirical, to answer consumers phone calls.
For years now, the government has attempted to sell 49% of the company to a strategic partner, while retaining a controlling (51%) equity interest.
This approach has seemingly failed as the government’s best option now appears to be to sell this telecom dinosaur—lock, stock and barrel—and truly privatize.
There is an urgent need for a more modern, liberalized telecommunications sector. BTC should no longer be allowed to maintain an unjust monopoly over the country’s telecommunications network and services.
In the 21st century, it is archaic for BTC to continue to own and control the telephone network (landlines) and monopolize cellular services.
Immediately, after the internet service was liberalized, hordes of internet users switched to Cable Bahamas, Coralwave, which offered subscribers faster, less expensive packages.
BTC again lost throngs of customers when fixed voice services came on stream, as many phone users chose Indigo’s cheaper rates compared to the national corporation’s exorbitant charges.
Eventually, BTC was forced to reduce its overseas rates (per minute) to compete with Indigo—a Bahamian company operating fixed voice services since 2004—that has rapidly gained market share.
The widespread launch of residential service by Indigo will foster competition and better quality product to customers.
Although Batelco has initiated an internet phone service called the Vibe—which offers packages for customers to make free calls to the Family Islands or internationally—many customers have migrated to other voice over internet providers such as Vonage, Cable Bahamas, Indigo and Skype.
Competition in the cellular mobile telephony market is being demanded as it will lead to improved services, reduced tariffs and costs to the consumer.
The telecoms laws must be changed to allow for deregulation of the telecommunications market. Unless the telecommunications market is liberalized, the Bahamas risks its standing in the offshore finance industry and in the booming e-commerce market, as BTC has become notorious for dropped calls and flawed internet connectivity.
Further liberalization will benefit Bahamian consumers and businesses by introducing more competition, which in turn should lower prices, enhance service quality and provide more choice.
EILEEN CARRON—A GIANT!
Eileen Carron, the Bahamas’ very own “iron lady”, has been a mentor, adviser and friend to me. In 2005, I met Mrs Carron as a 20-year-old cub reporter when she came into the Tribune’s offices, walked to my cubicle and praised me for a story I had written and continued to hotly pursue. I was elated.
Since leaving the Tribune’s newsroom, I’ve retained a column and built a relationship with Mrs Carron and, in our almost weekly conversations, have been exposed to a side of this journalist extraordinaire that apparently escapes her detractors.
Last summer, before I travelled to Europe, Mrs Carron advised me as to what to expect, discussed the Schengen visa and so on. When I returned, as I began to tell her about my trip, while laughing she joking asked: “How was the red light district (Amsterdam)? I heard you called and was very excited about being there!”
I have come to know Mrs Carron as a woman of principle and substance, who relentlessly pursues the truth in her quest for justice. In the face of much adversity, Mrs Carron has been at the fore in the fight to protect the democratic rights of Bahamians.
Eileen Carron has come to be known as the little lady who uses a pen as her sword and who seems to use words like nuclear bombs. She has become a thorn in the sides of unscrupulous public figures, and her name continues to send shivers down the backs of straying politicians.
When a political website doubted my existence, its writer/s claimed that I must be a nom-de-plume for Mrs Carron. For me, that assumption was a backhanded compliment, because it meant that my writing skills were outstanding and that I, like Mrs Carron, had pricked someone’s conscience.
The Tribune’s publisher is a true champion of the people and a nation builder, who has done more for the Bahamas in one day of her 50 year journalistic career than some politicians have done in their lifetime.
I congratulate you, Mrs Carron, on your 50 years at the vanguard of the fight for social justice and the downtrodden!
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