The Tribune

• CEO aims to ‘accelerate’ growth rate every year

• Aims to ‘open the throttle’ on network experience

• New Providence, GB on full fibre by end-2023

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Bahamas Telecommunications Company’s (BTC) chief executive yesterday unveiled ambitions to become “the shining jewel” for its immediate parent by “accelerating” growth every year.

Andre Foster told Tribune Business that the Bahamian carrier, which is 49 percent owned and controlled by Cable & Wireless Communications (CWC), had in 2021 exceeded the 2 percent annual growth target he set when assuming the chief executive’s role one year ago.

BTC’s revenues for the 2021 full-year rose by 4.9 percent compared to COVID-ravaged 2020, rising to $189.9m as opposed to $181.1m, and the company is now targeting greater year-over-year increases on an annual basis to ensure it can generate the necessary return for both network investment and its shareholders - CWC and the Government.

Noting that the number of homes passed by BTC’s fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) technology has almost doubled since he joined the carrier in 2017, Mr Foster pledged that it will “continue to open the throttle” on superior broadband Internet speeds and connectivity for households and businesses.

Viewing this infrastructure, and the improved customer experience it promises, as critical to winning subscribers and market share back from BISX-listed Cable Bahamas, he added that another 6,000 homes had been “released” to the FTTH network with BTC targeting the Coral Harbour/Coral Heights area for more customers as recently as Tuesday.

With 60,000 homes already passed by BTC’s new network architecture, Mr Foster said it had ambitions to grow this number to 70,000 in 2022 before getting both New Providence and Grand Bahama “fully” on fibre-to-the-home by year-end 2023.

He disclosed that his ambitions for BTC were aligned with those of Balan Nair, chief executive of Liberty Latin America (LiLAC), CWC’s owner and BTC’s ultimate parent, who was in The Bahamas on Tuesday and accompanied Mr Foster and his team on their push into Coral Harbour.

Disclosing that Mr Nair “wants to see The Bahamas as the shining jewel within CWC”, the BTC chief told Tribune Business: “It’s our job to fulfill that vision because that’s what we want to be: The shining jewel of CWC.

“Every year you’re going to see steps towards that happening, and every year you’re going to see accelerated steps towards that happening. I think that in a short time it will all tell very positively.”

BTC may have some distance to travel to achieve such status among CWC’s businesses, which cover 14 countries in Central America and the Caribbean, including territories such as Jamaica, Barbados and Panama. It is now some 11 years since CWC acquired its BTC interest via privatisation, and many feel all the promised benefits still have to be delivered.

Such status would also represent a reversal from the controversy that erupted during the Minnis administration’s time in office, when Mr Nair apologised after he was recorded suggesting that BTC suffered from the lowest productivity levels of all CWC operations during a meeting with staff in Jamaica.

However, Mr Foster said yesterday: “I’m always looking in the mirror to see how we can do better, and I’m really proud of the progress made last year coming to the tail end of COVID-19. We did a lot of great things to help and support our people, and tried to grow the business at the same time.

“There was favourable growth from 2020 to 2021, so I’m very proud of that. I always said that if I could just grow this business by 2 percent every year we would really start to head in the right direction. I’m really pleased that we exceeded that percentage in 2021, and will keep the ambition to grow that percentage year-over-year.”

Achieving that goal, Mr Foster said, will enable BTC to “invest in our people, invest in our network and return dividends to our shareholders, one of which is the Government of The Bahamas”. However, 2021 comparatives were up against a relatively low bar after BTC’s revenues - in common with most businesses - suffered a significant COVID-related blow.

Tribune Business reported over a week ago that BTC’s full-year 2021 revenues were still $17.4m, or 8.4 percent, below the $207.3m it achieved in the last pre-pandemic year of 2019, which was itself impacted by the economic fall-out from Hurricane Dorian.

Mr Foster, though, voiced optimism that BTC was on track to return to pre-COVD top-line performance. “I think our return to pre-COVID revenues is not too far off,” he said. “I think, from the perspective of what many businesses have experienced, it is the Dorian effect, it is the COVID effect, and we are now going to experience the inflation effect.

“I think our ability to get beyond it is not too far off and, quite frankly, we are doing all the right things in this business to develop a strong foundation for the business in the future. Fibre-to-the-home, new technological solutions.. you’re going to see some innovative things coming from us, not just around [connectivity] speed but new technology coming to market.”

Mr Foster declined to be drawn on the details, but asserted that BTC is poised to reclaim market share via its improved customer experience and broadband/mobile convergence. The latter, he added, will allow the carrier “to provide superior value” by bundling products, such as Internet and cellular, in customer-friendly packages with discounted prices.

Boasting that BTC “has bragging rights on value proposition”, Mr Foster added: “We see an opportunity to grow this business, and I do think as we grow it back and bring back market share, those dividends will grow healthier year-over-year as we produce positive growth. Our growth is going to be fuelled by a few things.

“One is expanding the fibre-to-the-home footprint, and we’re going to be spending a lot of time making sure Bahamians have access to the best experience. That is going to be fuelled by superior speeds. We’ll continue to push the envelope with speeds that are faster than the competition. We’re going to continue to open the throttle on that network and see the value we bring to it.”

Speaking to BTC’s ultimate network infrastructure goal, Mr Foster said: “I’ve been with the company since 2017 and there was already an existing footprint for fibre-to-the-home. Since I’ve been at BTC we have doubled that footprint, quite frankly. Wen had 32,000 passed when I joined, and now we’re at 60,000, and we’re going to multiply that impact over the next 18 months.

“This year, we have ambitions to get to roughly 70,000. We’re getting pretty close. If you take the last census, the total number of households was around 120,000, so we’re close to 60 percent. Our ambition is to get New Providence and Grand Bahama fully fibre-to-the-home by the end of 2023, and a bit more as we go forward. Today we’re already at 60,000 and continue to build.”