The Tribune

The Bahamas Telecommunications Company’s (BTC) majority shareholder believes the company can be developed into “a world class service” provider equivalent to its Macau business, which it sold last week for $806.8 million.

That disposal, and the sale of its Monaco and Islands business, gives Cable & Wireless Communications (CWC) a multi-million dollar ‘war chest’ to potentially invest in expanding its pan-American operations, including BTC.

CWC’s chief executive, Tony Rice, said in a statement he was proud of the world-class infrastructure and services that had been developed during CWC’s 32 years of partnership with the CTM business in Macau. He added that CWC hoped to replicate these achievements in the Bahamas.

“When Cable & Wireless first set up in Macau in the early 1980s, its telecoms infrastructure was relatively unsophisticated,” Mr Rice said.

“CTM was set up as a consortium of partners, including the Government of Macau, with CWC holding the majority stake and managing the business. We are proud of what we, and our partners, have achieved there.

“Macau now has the latest technology and services available in the telecoms world. It offers fibre-to-the-home fixed-line services, enabling broadband download speeds of 250Mbps. It was one of the first territories in the region to offer mobile data services, with the majority of the population now owning a smartphone. For a small country of 450,000 people, its has a telecoms service equal to any nation in the world.”

Drawing comparisons with the Bahamas and BTC, Mr Rice said: “We sold our Macau business to enable the company to focus solely on this region of the world, which we call pan-America.

“The Bahamas, and BTC, is a key part of that strategy. We believe we, alongside our partners in the Government, can develop BTC into a telecoms operator equal to what we achieved in Macau. The Bahamas has the potential to be one of the most advanced markets in this region. At BTC we are already working on the introduction of the latest mobile networks, using LTE technology and a next generation fixed network.

Noting that BTC chief executive, Geoff Houston, had previously worked in the Macau business, “and saw how to create a world class service first hand”, Mr Rice said: “We believe we have the same opportunity in the Bahamas.”