The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The head of BTC's line staff union yesterday blasted the company's "dismal performance" post-privatisation, while giving it an "A" grade for cost-cutting and staff lay-offs.

Bernard Evans, pictured, the Bahamas Communications and Public Officers Union's (BCPOU) president, told Tribune Business that the Bahamas Telecommunications Company's (BTC) succession of owners over the past seven years had failed to "carry out one mandate of significance" from the privatisation business plan in 2011.

With the incumbent carrier coming under increasing pressure from the loss of its lucrative mobile monopoly, Mr Evans said BTC and its owners had done too little, too late to compensate for this by entering new markets such as TV.

He spoke out after revealing that the 2018-2019 Budget vote, which saw four FNM MPs - including two parliamentary secretaries - vote against the VAT increase, recalled for him memories of the way in which Parliament approved BTC's 51 per cent majority sale to Cable & Wireless Communications (CWC) in 2011.

Arguing that the 'whip' system should be ended to allow MPs to vote according to their conscience, Mr Evans said he was contacted by "so many ministers" from the then-Ingraham administration in the aftermath of the BTC vote who told him they wanted to vote against the privatisation "but couldn't".

Not divulging any names, the union leader said: "Now look at what we're reaping. BTC has been sold three times in the last six years, and is on its fifth chief executive in the same period.

"Every time we get a potential vision, what direction BTC is headed in, there's a change - a change in ownership, change in philosophy. The only thing consistent is they keep reducing the staff, reducing costs and outsourcing where the benefits are not there for the contract workers. It has become the norm for us."

BTC has gone through a series of chief executives since its 2011 privatisation, starting with Geoff Houston and going through Phil Bentley, Leon Williams and Dexter Cartwright to the latest appointment, Gary Sinclair, who will take up the post on August 1.

Mr Evans agreed that Mr Sinclair, a Jamaican, was "a heavy hitter" given his track record as a leading investment banker and then as head of CWC's regional business.

Some observers have interpreted his appointment as both a sign of BTC's importance to its current owner, Liberty Latin America (LiLAC), and an indication of the latter's concern at its Bahamian asset's performance in the face of competition from Aliv and Cable Bahamas.

Tribune Business earlier this year revealed how BTC's net profits fell by at least $30 million, or 75 per cent, year-over-year in 2017 as a result of competition's pressure on not just subscriber numbers but pricing and margins.

BTC's 2017 full-year net earnings were down 71.3 per cent at $11.4m, compared to the $39.7m profit it enjoyed for the last nine months of 2016 - the last period in which it enjoyed a mobile monopoly prior to Aliv's launch in November 2016.

This suggests that BTC's full year-over-year profits comparison could have been down by as much as 80 per cent, given that the telecommunications carrier was likely on track for a near-$50m "bottom line" in 2016 based on its nine-month performance.

The figures also revealed that the Government and 'BTC Foundation', as non-controlling BTC shareholders, received no dividend in 2017 compared to the $12.6m payout they collectively enjoyed in 2016.

And BTC lost over 60,000 mobile customers, almost 20 per cent of its market, in just over one year as a result of competition. Data released by LiLAC revealed that at end-2017 its Bahamian subsidiary had 228,100 pre-paid subscribers and 26,800 post-paid customers, giving it a total base of 254,900 persons.

This compared to the 282,000 pre-paid and 33,000 post-paid subscribers that Liberty's 2016 accounts showed it as possessing one year earlier, which was just after BTC's first-ever mobile rival launched in November 2016.

Suggesting that BTC has "a revolving door at the top", Mr Evans questioned whether Mr Sinclair would be able to give the Bahamas his undivided attention given his responsibilities for other CWC markets (CWC is now a LiLAC subsidary) such as Jamaica.

"BTC needs 100 per cent attention, not a share," he told Tribune Business. "Why have a part-time chief executive if you're concerned about the company? I would have thought they would have dedicated someone here to give BTC their full undivided attention. It is what it is. This is an ongoing saga with a revolving door at the very top."

Mr Evans argued that BTC and its owners, CWC, Liberty Global and now LiLAC "haven't done much of anything to bring in new revenue, maintain the revenue they were enjoying.

"Even though we understood there would be a drop-off, you had four years to prepare. My God, you didn't do anything," the BCPOU leader argued.

He added that BTC should have rolled-out CWC's Flow TV package much earlier to compensate for the mobile monopoly loss, revealing that the carrier was moving to launch such a product in 2006 only for it to be be put on hold while the privatisation's completion was awaited.

"It's being rolled out in places where it will be a disappointment at best," Mr Evans told Tribune Business of Flow TV. "It's been a dismal performance.

"All we've seen them [the owners] do is reducing costs, cutting employees and lowering staff morale. I'll give them an 'A' for that.

"They have not carried out one mandate of any significance from the business plan they submitted on the day of the sale that they said they'd do on behalf of workers and consumers at BTC."