The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Bahamas’ second mobile operator and its controlling shareholder yesterday said they were “bang on target” in meeting its first roll-out milestone, describing this and the launch of services as “a miracle”.

Top NewCo2015 and Cable Bahamas executives confirmed to Tribune Business that they had met the Saturday, October 1 deadline that represented their first license commitment, and said: “Competition has started.”

Anthony Butler, chief executive and president of Cable Bahamas, which has a 48.75 per cent equity stake in NewCo2015, said the company had been “bang on target” in achieving its first roll-out timeline.

The new mobile provider was charged with achieving 99 per cent network population coverage in New Providence, and 80 per cent population coverage in Grand Bahama (Freeport), within three months of its license award.

That award occurred on July 1, 2016, thus giving NewCo2015 until the beginning of October to fulfill its commitments to the Government, regulators and the Bahamian people.

“We’ve built the first phase in 13 weeks,” Mr Butler said yesterday. “We’re putting together a team at Cable Bahamas and NewCo who we have total confidence in, when it comes to providing the services and the roll-out that customers are longing for.”

NewCo2015 currently has a limited service, yet one Bahamians can use, as it tests and tweaks its network infrastructure in preparation for a full launch that will occur within the next few weeks.

“It was critical to Cable Bahamas to make sure that we get it right the first time,” Mr Butler told Tribune Business. “We’re excited and confident.

“Competition has started, and we’re looking forward to it. The winners are going to be the people of the Bahamas.”

Damian Blackburn, NewCo2015’s chief executive, said all its 73 sites across New Providence and Grand Bahama were installed and carrying the company’s mobile services.

“I’m dialling you now off a NewCo phone,” he told Tribune Business yesterday. “We’ve got 73 sites, which is the plan we submitted to the regulator back in August.

“Now there’ll be a period where we give the regulator (the Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority) our test results, but we’ve got a limited service - a service that people can use.”

Mr Blackburn said NewCo2015 had made a $500 unlimited monthly call package available for persons wanting to try out its service, and its staff have already been issued with phones and SIM cards as testing ramps up.

“We’ve not quite set the full launch date,” Mr Blackburn said. “It’s variable, depending on market conditions, but it will happen in the next few weeks.

“We’ll be announcing soon when that happens. We want to be 100 per cent sure everything is in place before we commit to that exact date, and that’s what we’re focused on.”

He described NewCo2015’s achievement of the first roll-out target as “massive”, adding: “The chief technology officer working with me on this has done 14 roll-outs in the region. Nobody else has got a license and made a service available, on air, in three months. It’s a miracle really.

“It’s a testament to the Bahamas that we’ve been able to do it. I’ve not seen it before, and my chief technology officer has not seen it before, and we’ve done this in many other places.

Mr Blackburn said the “preparatory work” performed by Cable Bahamas, in terms of identifying mobile tower sites, and the ability to use its existing fibre optic infrastructure, had helped the company to hit its first target.

He added that NewCo2015 had to build an organisation, especially its staff, from nothing in parallel with attempting to hit that three-month deadline.

“We’ve either got on board, or made offers that have been accepted, 96 staff, 82 of whom are Bahamians,” Mr Blackburn told Tribune Business.

“Our target is to get to 135 staff this year or before the launch. One hundred and fifteen will be Bahamian. We’re on the way now.”

Mr Blackburn said “millions” had been invested in NewCo2015’s roll-out to-date, including the $62.5 million license fee paid by Cable Bahamas, which has Board and management control at the mobile operator.

The majority 51.75 per cent stake is owned by the Government through HoldingCo, although it has publicly stated its intention to sell this interest as rapidly as possible to private Bahamian institutional investors.

“We’re going to bring a lot of choice, simplicity around pricing and great value,” Mr Blackburn told Tribune Business.

“You won’t have to pay any more to receive calls from landlines. You won’t have to worry about picking up a call in our service. You’ll have weekly and monthly packages, and won’t need a PhD in pricing.

“We will have a suite of packages that suit every budget, and there’ll be no contracts. You will be able to receive calls without any balance.”

Mr Blackburn also promised per second, as opposed to per minute, billing, and added: “We think all these things are fairly revolutionary, and once we share the details and plans, everybody is going to be blown away with the value customers are going to receive from us.”

He said “one of the proudest things as chief executive” was to see how rapidly NewCo2015 had been able to build its team, and how they had developed.