The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Aliv’s top executive yesterday revealed that per customer revenue yields have increased by ten percent over the past 12 months as the mobile operator moves to “reinvent the store experience”.

Damian Blackburn, speaking as the upstart provider celebrated its third birthday, told Tribune Business that the Cable Beach store set to open via a “soft launch” this week will reveal much of its thinking in relation to the new concept.

Confirming that Aliv is continuing to invest “north of $10m” annually in network and store improvements, excluding the extra $6m spend for Hurricane Dorian restoration, Mr Blackburn said the mobile provider is targeting earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) “to the tune of” $2m for its current quarter notwithstanding the storm’s impact.

Disclosing that this will be achieved by generating $20m in projected revenues for the three months to end-2020, Mr Blackburn said this would represent a quarter-over-quarter increase on the $18m top-line that was achieved in the previous period despite Dorian. The storm pushed that quarter’s EBITDA into “slightly negative” territory.

He added that Aliv was trying to strike the correct “balance” between burying fibre-optic cable in the ground and offering wireless solutions when it came to its Abaco network restoration post-Dorian, adding that both options are being “carefully evaluated”.

“ARPU (average revenue per subscriber) is in the right place,” Mr Blackburn said. “We have ARPU at $39. Each customer is spending on average $39 a month. There is nothing better to tell you you’re doing a good job than customers spending their hard-earned money to buy your products and services.

“It’s [ARPU] probably improved ten percent over the course of the last 12 months. That’s probably to do with us because we’re operating in all market segments now. We only launched consumer post paid 15 months ago.”

Mr Blackburn added that Aliv, which hosted a glitzy reception to mark its third anniversary complete with teasers of its upcoming Christmas promotional campaign, had launched its ‘Aliv Together’ crowdfunding platform to assist non-governmental organisations with raising disaster relief funds in Dorian’s immediate aftermath.

He revealed that it has helped to raise $112,000, with groups such as the Red Cross and HeadKnowles among the registered users, following a year in development when it obtained all the necessary banking and regulatory approvals.

“Reinventing the store experience is something we plan to look at,” Mr Blackburn told Tribune Business. “We’re looking at opening a new store at Cable Beach with a soft launch this week and an official opening later this month.

“That’s going to be something of our new thinking. You can still recognise it as an Aliv store, but there will be lots more going on there than in other Aliv stores. We are still investing double digits in the network and stores in the order of north of $10m on a normal run-rate.”

Mr Blackburn said Aliv now had 170,000 subscribers and an estimated 37 percent share of the mobile market based on its collective revenue top-line. He added that the operator’s 4G LTE (Long Term Evolution technology) network is providing 99.88 percent availability to consumers, while the figure for its 3G network stands at 99.62 percent.

The Aliv chief added that customer satisfaction scores, based on monthly surveys of 600 consumers who were asked whether they would recommend the brand to family or friends, stood at 70 - just shy of global giant Apple at 72.

“We have built a brand in The Bahamas that’s been built by Bahamians, and that is the best in the world and on a par with the best in the world,” Mr Blackburn said. Some $190m has been invested in building out Aliv’s infrastructure and obtaining its licence, with 243 mobile sites scattered across The Bahamas.