Prime Minister Perry Christie
By AVA TURNQUEST
Tribune Chief Reporter
aturnquest@tribunemedia.net
THE rate of dropped calls for the nation’s only telecommunications provider is now at 6,000 per day, according to Prime Minister Perry Christie.
Mr Christie said he was pleased that the Bahamas Telecommunications Company has been able to reduce the figure from an egregious 70,000 dropped calls a day through their extensive capital expenditure over the past year.
He made the revelation on Sunday at the CANTO 31st Annual Conference and Trade Show in Miami, where he outlined the company’s operations.
He said that the government would “soon” make an announcement on efforts to liberalise the sector, and the selection of either Virgin or Cable Bahamas for the second licence.
During his keynote address, Mr Christie underscored the sluggish progress made by policy makers and Information and communications technology (ICT) providers to close the digital divide.
He pointed out that, three years ago, the Inter American Development Bank’s regional assessment pegged broadband services as less accessible, less used and more expensive than other countries, with a stark gap within the region when comparing urban and rural areas.
“What have we done in the last three years?” he asked. “Is this an indictment on us as policy makers and providers of ICTs in the region? It has been stated over and over again that broadband is the crude oil of the 21st century. Broadband is the currency of the 21st century. Broadband is to the 21st century what oil was to the 19th century.”
Mr Christie said: “I challenge our Ministers of ICTs and our regulators as I did the last time I was here. Our telecom providers are not here because they like us. They are in our region to make money.
“Therefore, let us actively pursue policies and legislations that will support the initiatives of organisations like CANTO and improve the lives of our citizens through the innovation of broadband. Let’s do it,” he said, “the time for talking about it is over.”
He told providers that the government and regulators did not expect them to make capital investments without a return; however, Mr Christie said governments in the region could not be expected to sit quietly while immense profits were made for “atrocious” service. He pointed out that more than $700 million had been made in Haiti, despite the fact that it had the lowest internet penetration.
He said: “You cannot expect governments whose economic growth are flat or experiencing minimal growth, to settle for 41.1 per cent broadband penetration, when we are told that increasing broadband can account for 3.6 to 4 per cent growth in GDP. And, it is not because of the lack of skilled labour and talent in the Caribbean but, because of the lack of affordable, reliable high speed Internet.
“This could only lead to increasing vexing challenges for our governments that are bred as a result of increasing unemployment of our youth and the feeling of hopelessness in our societies.
Mr Christie said: “Broadband provides an equaliser to the playing field. It results in the democratisation of invention.”
The Prime Minister also pointed out the marked drop in staff employees at telecommunications providers since the sector was privatised.
“I am not being critical, I am just stating a reality. More and more Caribbean nationals are losing their jobs and more and more Caribbean governments are being asked to issue work permits to non-Caribbean nationals. Please, let me state for the record that I am all for cross pollination and improving our skill sets. But, I also believe that there has to be a reflection at all strata of the companies in the Caribbean of the customers who provide the revenues and profits.
“There should be equity in compensation and compensation should be attached to the office and not the individual holding the office,” Mr Christie said.
“In that way, a Caribbean national, upon being promoted to executive management, should receive the same compensation and perks as that of his expat colleagues. The responsibilities of running the company doesn’t change with who is running the company. The challenges do not change. Therefore, the compensation should not change.”
Comments
John 9 years, 3 months ago
Yes the service has improved significantly under Mr. Leon Williams. Not that the problem has been fixed will he be allowed to keep his job.
ThisIsOurs 9 years, 3 months ago
Hmm...I don't think he has anything to do with it, unless he personally built and installed and paid for additional cell towers. Geoff Houston was equally as capable and over the same time would have gotten same results. If anyone believes his appointment was anything but political they need to do a serious rethink. The Bahamas is a strange bird, we prefer to have political cronies instead of qualified persons controlling our most precious resources. The government feeds the people the most nonsensical premises and they swallow it hook line and sinker.
(Case in point, Brave Davis is an insult to our collective intelligence)
sheeprunner12 9 years, 3 months ago
Yep ........... C&W bit off more than they could chew with Batelco (its still Batelco at heart) ................... Letters and gimmicks do not change culture
John 9 years, 3 months ago
Geoff Houston got fired because he could not fix the problem despite the millions that was spent. That among other things where others at BTC were fired or asked to resign. Leon Williams was brought in on a short contract with the understanding that he could fix the cell problem. He made adjustments to the system installed additional towers and the dropped calls have dropped significantly and other problems on the network have been corrected. Geoff Houston had four years and could not get the system to work even to a satisfactory level. Some of the equipment he installed had to be replaced. He was fired after some twenty plus years at Cable and Wireless! You sound rather dumb or prejudice when you say that unless the CEO of a multimillion dollar company "personally built and installed and paid for towers" he was not responsible for fixing the system. Did Geoff Houston personally build or install or personally pay for anything at BTC before he was fired? This is 2015. Incredibly Unbelievable!!
ThisIsOurs 9 years, 3 months ago
Nope, Geoff Houston was fired as a bligh to the powers that be, to think otherwise is unbelievable. In fact many are raising questions about persons (who also left under dubious circumstances) but have since been brought back on to staff by the "savior".
Did Geoff Houston personally install a cell tower. No. I see you got the point. A five year old could have ordered installation of additional towers to cause a reduction in dropped calls.
Also remember the government wields tremendous influence over decisions at BTC. The fact that Mr Williams leads means nothing, he was also leading in the pre Ingraham days when THEFT was sky high.
asiseeit 9 years, 3 months ago
“the time for talking about it is over.”, Yes Sir, the time for talking is long past, give us our next cell provider so we have a choice and competition in the market. Bahamians have been ripped off by government via BTC for far to long. Make a decision, if you are capable! There is NO reason for delay except ineptitude or graft.
Hogfish 9 years, 3 months ago
this wutless jackass talking bout dropped calls when people still gettin killed in the gaadamn street !!!
i truly do despair.
Tarzan 9 years, 3 months ago
You can't make this up. The P.M. is criticizing "policy makers"????
This is the same fellow who dictatorially runs the party in power which screwed up the privatization of BEC for years in a purely politically motivated, phony side show about getting 51% public ownership, when everyone knows that public ownership was and is the whole problem here???
This is the guy who then, as if it was an afterthought, has screwed up the licensing of a competitor for BEC (the whole point behind privatization in the first place) by adding as a last minute afterthought, the condition that the government would have to own 51% of any new telecommunications entrant????
This guy is complaining that the Bahamas is way behind in broadband and telecommunications development. Does he think everyone is just plain stupid????
What a joke!!
John 9 years, 3 months ago
Hmm...I don't think he has anything to do with it, unless he personally built and installed and paid for additional cell towers
Still the joke of the day!
ThisIsOurs 9 years, 3 months ago
Oh you didn't get the point.... None so blind....
GrassRoot 9 years, 3 months ago
Kind of scary that PGC thinks he should be taking over Investor Relations for BTC as well, after he tried to do so for Baha Mar. He starts to look more and more like Chavez/Maduro in Venezuela or Correa (Ecuador).
laisee 9 years, 3 months ago
Nero fiddles, while Rome burns.
Mayaguana34 9 years, 3 months ago
Leon exist because he in Bahamian and has every talk show number and most importantly we need someone that looks like us to fire us - He is mediocre at best and has brought no advance to BTC or telecommunications in the bahamas or the region. The solution should have come with liberalization but we already figured out how to screw that up #SMFT Go fix it Dear Perry - 6k missed calls and still dead spots on a small island with barely a hill
ThisIsOurs 9 years, 3 months ago
You noticed? I have never seen a CEO so interested in self promotion in my life. Days before more than 100 of his workers were about to be fired, he was on air cackling and alternately patting himself and the PM on the back for an entire hour, not one word of sympathy for the workers about to be released.
He's adopted the extremely troubling trend being used by the present government," the marketing campaign is more important than the reality".
asiseeit 9 years, 3 months ago
The only reason they have not named the new cell provider is because they want to get their hands on 51% of the company that gets the license. Why if you have a company that is already 100% Bahamian owned and the only real contender must government own 51%. Who in their right mind would set up a company, put up all of the capital, do all of the leg work and then just hand over 51% majority of said company to a corrupt government? Is there anyone that stupid? Perry and his band of thieves will rot in hell for their rape of The Bahamas!
thomas 9 years, 3 months ago
Fewer calls being made, less calls to drop
sheeprunner12 9 years, 3 months ago
And more use of Whatsapp and other such apps ............... BTC eats your minutes before u even get on to the call ................ still too expensive
asiseeit 9 years, 3 months ago
I call Bullshit on the 6000 number. I had 3 dropped calls to one party last night and had to call another party back twice due to garbled connection all within 1/2 hour. BTC sucks and rips the people off as you know I got charged a minute for those 5 calls each. If BTC was Old Yeller they would have been taken to the wood shed and shot a long time ago.
banker 9 years, 3 months ago
Ask the Reverend Patrick Adderley, who was on the board at the time that Leon Williams was fired. Julian Francis recused himself as Chairman because of his connections to the events that led to Williams being fired. Adderley was the acting chair of the board of directors when the decision was made. There is one word that was driving the firing of Williams. It's a ten letter word. It starts with a C and ends with an N, and the last syllable rhymes with 'shun' and the word has a couple of R's in it.
Patrick Adderley is a man of the cloth, and a principled man, and he held the key to Williams' firing.
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