The Tribune

By YOURI KEMP

Tribune Business Reporter

ykemp@tribunemedia.net

THE BAHAMAS Telecommunications Company (BTC) will be increasingly relying on a fibre network roll-out that is 70 percent complete to drive revenue growth and market share, its newly-appointed chief executive says.

Sameer Bhatti told Tribune Business his immediate plans are to press forward with the fibre-to-the-home infrastructure deployment on New Providence until it is finished. “We’re looking to continue that roll out, and the fact that we’ve announced we’re continuing that roll-out here in the fourth quarter and will do so through 2023,” he said.

“It’s not sufficient to have it in New Providence and have it in Grand Bahama, and to have it in Abaco and Exuma. We want to take it throughout the archipelago.” BTC’s goal is that customers enjoy faster, better-quality broadband Internet and TV services when it completes the transition from its legacy copper infrastructure to fibre-to-the-home.

BTC has been locked in a fierce market share battle with its main competitor, Cable Bahamas, and its mobile subsidiary, Aliv, ever since that segment of the communications market was liberalised. During the 2022 second quarter, BTC’s subscriber numbers remained relatively flat despite losing 600 post-paid mobile subscribers during the three months to end-June. While it did gain 300 pre-paid subscribers, this still represents a quarterly net loss of 300 mobile customers.

The carrier ended the 2022 first half with some 173,200 mobile subscribers split between 31,500 post-paid customers and 141,700 pre-paid clients. Elsewhere, though, BTC gained a net 400 subscribers or revenue generating units (RGUs) in its fixed-line businesses, bolstered largely by an 800 gain on broadband Internet. Fixed-line phone subscribers, though, fell by 400.

At end-June 2022, BTC had 73,00 fixed-line revenue generating units split between 31,500 broadband Internet customers and 31,900 fixed-line voice subscribers, with 9,600 video/ TV clients making up the balance. This follows modest fixed line subscriber gains during the 2022 first quarter.

While the carrier added 200 TV, and 700 Internet, customers over that period, this was largely negated by the loss of 700 fixed-line telephone subscribers. All in all, BTC lost 1,400 fixed-line “customer relationships”. This continued the trend set late last year, when BTC lost 2,900 “revenue generating units” or customer relationships during the 2021 fourth quarter. Then, Internet and TV subscribers declined by 1,200 and 100, respectively, while fixed-line voice fell by some 1,600.

Mr Bhatti, meanwhile, noted that Cable Bahamas and Aliv are now following BTC’s lead in embracing fibre-to-the-home network technology. “My perspective is we’re customer first. What are the needs of the customers? How do we super serve those needs?” he added.

“We have more speed right now. We have more value within our fibre offerings as well as our post-paid, and we have every reason for our customers to consider us to switch. So long as we stay on that path it’s good things for the Bahamian people and good things for the company.

“Strategy for revenue growth is about rolling fibre. That’s the future. Think about what we’ve all been through with the core of the pandemic. Internet access is like oxygen to many people in our country, and so we’ve had a bit of a fast forward or pull forward of those experiences,” he continued.

“To us, we know that the simultaneous usage within the home, be it for streaming, be it for gaming, be it for video conferencing is only going to increase, and the bandwidth and the low latency that we enable with our fibre is key to enabling those future experiences. If we delight our customers, we meet their needs today and in the future, good things will follow. That said, we are growth-focused on growing the team, growing the network and strengthening management.”