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Aliv: $5.6m bond release shows roll-out targets hit

As of Tuesday, October 17, 2017

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

THE Bahamas' second mobile operator yesterday said more than 4,000 subscribers have switched to its network, with regulators releasing $5.6 million from its performance bond.

Damian Blackburn, Aliv's chief executive, said the Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority's (URCA) release of more than 30 per cent of its pledged security showed it was meeting network roll-out milestones.

"We have had over 4,000 customers moving their number from the other operator [Bahamas Telecommunications Company] to us," said Mr Blackburn. Mobile number portability was launched in April 2017, allowing consumers to retain their existing number for commercial purposes and ease of contact while switching providers.

Aliv said it has more than 80,000 subscribers. Mr Blackburn, a former Digicel executive, added: "You have to make sure that your vision is clear and deliver on it. People are beginning to have faith in our service.

"In the license that we were given last July there were certain network roll-out milestones. The first was to be up and running in New Providence and Grand Bahama by October 1 last year. We were up and running, and URCA validated that.

"We also had to meet certain quality tests for call quality and data speeds. An $18 million bond was put up as surety for meeting those milestones. Today, I think URCA has released about $5.6 million of that bond. That shows we have been making good progress."

Mr Blackburn added: "We were a bit slower than the original plan with our roll-out on Andros, Exuma and Bimini, but we are on track."

He said a co-location agreement with the Bahamas Telecommunications Company was critical to the roll-out plan on those islands. 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.

Mr Blackburn said that in addition to Aliv's service, the company's roll-out on the Family Islands had provided additional employment opportunities.

Comments

banker 7 years, 1 month ago

Anyone here use Aliv? If so, how is the cost and service?

DreamerX 7 years, 1 month ago

No issues with the service yet, seems better than BTC, I've have both in active use since they launched. Prices were much better before BTC mobilized discounted price schedule to slow the bleeding. Now they are comparable and should be treated based on your usage and pay levels. BTC wins in terms of the low usage person who only top up small amounts incrementally or medium amounts once every few months. Aliv is a bit better for high use person especially ones who have spikes in usage with the month to month subscriptions allowing you to plan for larger packages if you know it will be busy and reduce to medium to smallish packages the next month. They are sharing mostly the BTC network, so idk how it will fair once they are mandated to use their own network or BTC is no longer ordered by URCCA to permit usages of the network.

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