The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor WHILE conceding that the Bahamas Telecommunications Company's (BTC) ongoing cellular monopoly was "increasingly rare", the industry regulator has rejected Cable Bahamas' urging that it should ensure a 'level playing field' for future rivals by denying the newly-privatised carrier further spectrum in the key 700 MHz band. Responding to industry comments on its consultation over the licensing, fees and administration of the Bahamas' spectrum radio frequency bands, the Utilities Regulation & Competition Authority (URCA) said that acquiescing to Cable Bahamas' demands would deny Bahamian consumers the benefits BTC could offer them via the 700 MHZ band. And, while Cable Bahamas had argued that BTC's cellular monopoly, which lasts until April 2014, with no competitor likely to begin providing services until 2016, was "unconstitutional", URCA said no court ruling existed to uphold this. It added that BTC's cellular monopoly was enshrined in statute via the Communications Act 2009. "URCA notes Cable Bahamas' comments regarding BTC's monopoly in the provision of mobile services in the Bahamas, and in particular Cable Bahamas' contention that the monopoly is unconstitutional and has no place in modern society," the regulator said. "URCA notes that section 114 of the Communications Act 2009 (as amended by the Communications (Amendment) Act 2011) establishes the terms and conditions of BTC's monopoly, and that no decision has been made in legal proceedings which demonstrates that the provisions imposing the monopoly are unconstitutional or otherwise unlawful." Yet URCA conceded: "While URCA accepts that such monopolies are increasingly rare, there are several international precedents for the imposition of legal monopolies by Governments, where to do so is reasonably determined by the Government to serve legitimate national interests. "As such, URCA presumes the constitutionality and legality generally of the BTC monopoly, as a feature of the overarching legislation that establishes URCA's powers to regulate the electronic communications sector (ECS)." As a result, URCA said it had rejected the notion that it could use the Communications Act "to thwart, undermine or compensate other providers for BTC's monopoly in the provision of mobile services". And it added: "URCA notes Cable Bahamas' suggestion that URCA should delay the opening of the 700 MHz band until 'all operators can be treated equally'. URCA is, however, of the view that it would be improper for URCA to further deny the public in the Bahamas the benefit of the new services that would be possible using 700 MHz spectrum. "URCA has, however, taken steps to ensure that any new entrant has the opportunity to obtain a comparable spectrum assignment in the same band with which to offer equivalent services and compete on an even basis, as it would be imprudent not to allow facilities for robust competition and service delivery by any new entrant(s)." URCA's statement of results is thus something of a 'slap down' for Cable Bahamas, the regulator also rejecting the BISX-listed communications provider's assertions that the pricing for non-cellular spectrum in the 700 MHz range should be $800 per MHz for New Providence, with discounts of 40 per cent for Grand Bahama, 12.5 per cent for Abaco and 8 per cent for the Family Islands. Cable Bahamas had also argued that the 75 per cent proposed fee for the restricted mobile services segment was too high, but URCA said its charges were justified by the fact that fixed data remains "a significant current and potential future source of revenue". "URCA has therefore decided to maintain its position that the Mobile Services Restricted 700 MHz spectrum interim pricing should be 75 per cent of the price proposed for Mobile Spectrum allocations, i.e. $6,000 per MHz per annum," the regulator added.