The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor THE BAHAMAS Telecommunications Company (BTC) is aiming to expand its retail network to between 30-40 stores at 2012 year-end, an executive yesterday telling Tribune Business it hoped to have a national 4G network "by the end of summer". Marlon Johnson, a BTC spokesman, said that following the planned opening of its Grand Bahama 'flagship' store in mid-February, the newly-privatised carrier was looking to refurbish 15 of the existing outlets it owns, as it moves to expand consumer access to its products and services. And, in a bid to establish national retail coverage and touch consumers on all inhabited islands, Mr Johnson said BTC was looking to reach agreements with some 30 independent dealers to establish and operate stores. "We've started work in Grand Bahama at the Pioneer's Way, downtown Freeport, location, and by mid-February we're hoping to open a brand new flagship in Grand Bahama," Mr Johnson told Tribune Business. "Then, certainly, in the Family Islands there will be lots there, also. "Our ambition is to refurbish and re-do 15 of the existing stores. Our hope is that by the end of the calendar year we will bring in up to 30 independent dealers with whatever dealer model we create, so we can get our footprint up around 30. "Between BTC operated stores and dealer-operated stores, there will be 30-40 - at least 30." When it came to the roll-out of BTC's fourth generation (4G) cellular network, Mr Johnson said the carrier - which has a monopoly in this business until at least 2014 - was aiming to have the first Family Island fully completed by mid-end April 2012. "Our mission is to get the first island completed buy mid-end April 2012, perhaps a little earlier," he told Tribune Business. "By the end of the first semester, April, we are looking to have two-three islands completed on the 4G network. "By the end of summer, our hope is to have the 4G network throughout the islands where the existing (2G) network is, so we hope to have national 4G coverage by the end of summer." Acknowledging that this was a tight timescale, Mr Johnson added: "We think it's reasonable. It's ambitious, but it's do-able. We're doing as much as we can to get it done as quickly as possible." He pointed out that BTC had met its December targets to launch the 4G network in New Providence and Grand Bahama. The majority of the $43 million 4G network budget had already been spent, the BTC executive said, adding that the "lion's share" had been allocated to the advance procurement of necessary equipment. As for BTC's $55 million Next Generation Network (NGN) platform, designed to facilitate its high-speed 8 Megabyte (MB) Internet platform, Mr Johnson said this had been rolled-out via exchanges in areas such as Bain & Grant's Town, Chippingham and Big Pond. BTC was engaged in "door-to-door" selling of the product, as well as providing it to existing Internet clients. The effort, Mr Johnson said, was also set to be expanded to southern and western New Providence, going into areas such as Carmichael. "We're setting up what we believe is the best quality, most stable Internet service in the country," Mr Johnson told Tribune Business. "We're excited with the way it's going, and we expect sometime this year, the end of Spring, to have it substantially completed."