The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

THE Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) is set to invest several million dollars in building-out 15-18 new cell phone tower sites nationwide within the next 14-18 months, having already switched 25 per cent of its fixed-line customers over to the Next Generation Network (NGN).

Marlon Johnson, BTC’s senior vice-president of brands and communication, told Tribune Business that a telecommunications provider’s cellular network build-out was “never complete”, with upgrades constantly required due to population movements and changes in consumer use patterns.

While unable to place a precise figure on the value of BTC’s medium-term cellular network upgrade, Mr Johnson added that the newly-privatised carrier expected by end-summer 2013 to have switched all its 120,000 broadband Internet and fixed-line voice customers over to its NGN network.

And he told Tribune Business that BTC could open another 30 retail stores, all owned and operated by Bahamian franchisees, within the next 18 months if everything went to plan.

Mr Johnson also disclosed to this newspaper that BTC was doing “very preliminary testing” on its Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology at three sites in New Providence, with plans to roll-out products in this sector - designed to be 10 times’ faster than 4G - by summer 2012.

Preliminary testing has also started on BTC’s Internet Protocol (IP) TV product, which is set to also be rolled out for testing in a specific area this summer.

Telling Tribune Business that “the pipeline looks to be full” in terms of BTC’s ongoing projects, Mr Johnson said “additional investment” was needed to further build-out its monopoly cellular network.

This, he explained, would involve 15-18 new sites “between New Providence, Grand Bahama and the Family Islands in the medium-term - within the next 14-18 months.

“That’s just keeping pace with the growth in voice and data traffic as usage expands,” Mr Johnson added. “We are doing a full business case on our medium-term needs. A cellular network is never complete. As populations shift and move, and consumer patterns change, both create new demand.”

BTC has come under heavy fire from both politicians and consumers due to service problems and high dropped call volumes, associated with a combination of the 4G network’s build-out and a huge increase in demand - particularly for mobile date services.

Meanwhile, Mr Johnson said BTC was trialling its LTE technology at three sites on New Providence - Paradise Island, East Street and the Arawak Cay ‘Fish Fry’.

“We’re doing very preliminary testing, and we hope by the end of summer to roll-out an LTE product,” he added. “We’ve also started preliminary testing of TV and the technology for that, and we hope to have a specific area trial by this summer.”

As for BTC’s NGN network, Mr Johnson said the core was now completely built-out. “The challenging part of the job is to switch 120,000 lines on the digital platform over to the NGN platform,” he explained.

“So far, we’ve cut over 30,000. By the end of summer, we will have broadband, fixed-line customers switched over to the new platform.”

Mr Johnson also confirmed that the roll-out of BTC’s wholly-owned, flagship retail stores would cease at 11.

“Moving forward, our ambition is to expand out with a network of franchisees,” he told Tribune Business. “What we have started the process of doing is getting feedback from potential franchisees.

“We have started building out the network, and probably over the next 18 months or so, if all goes well, we could add as many as 30 new stores utilising Bahamians as owners and operators.”

Prospective franchisees were already approaching BTC about the opportunity, and Mr Johnson added: “We are identifying people who we believe can, and do have, the means and wherewithal to address the marketplace.”

He said BTC’s franchisee network would be a mixture of standalone stores, store-in-store concepts and kiosks focused on a specific segment of the company’s business.

“It depends on the market conditions in the area,” Mr Johnson explained of what would determine the franchise model.

“If it’s a small Family Island community, the will not need a standalone store, but they might have a store in that community where we do an in-store concept or kiosk.

“We’ll try to create a format that works for the entity and community.”

BTC’s first franchise store at Grand Bahama’s Carvel Beach had helped the carrier “perfect the franchise model”, with Mr Johnson adding that the planned roll-out would create several hundred jobs and “help develop the entrepreneurial class in the Bahamas”.

He suggested that BTC and its franchise partners would both contribute a percentage of the capital expenditure necessary to open a particular store, ensuring “they’ll have skin in the game, we’ll have skin in the game, so we create a true partnership”.