The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

CABLE Bahamas says it is “geared up” and “ready to go” once number portability comes into effect next month, describing its 20 per cent fixed-line market penetration over two years as “pretty phenomenal”.

The BISX-listed communications provider has launched an “unprecedented” mortgage giveaway promotion tied to its REVOICE Bahamaland service, the most recent addition to its fixed-line offering.

David Burrows, its marketing director, told Tribune Business at the launch of the promotion that the company had just over 22,000 REVOICE subscribera to date, representing just over 20 per cent of the land-line phone market.

“That’s in just around two years, and I think if you check that against any market, that type of transition is phenomenal,” Mr Burrows said.

“We were coming in against an entrenched company, and in less than two years we have eaten 20 per cent of the market. That’s pretty phenomenal. That speaks to the reliability of the service and the support we offer.

“We’re the only communications provider with 24-hour customer support. We’re here all the time and that makes a huge difference for every type of customer. We have a million phone calls a year going though our network.”.

The Utilities Regulation & Competition Authority (URCA) recently announced that December 2 was the revised implementation date for number portability after the initial September 3 date was scrapped due to readiness issues.

Mr Burrows said: “In under a month from now number portability will launch. We’ve been ready since September 3. We have now geared up for a second time.

“I think customers are unsure if it’s going to happen. We are ready to go. We’re very excited about it. We think that the largest impact is going to be on our business phone service. There are so many things you have to change as a company if you’re going to change your phone number. This opportunity is huge in terms of what they will be able to do.”

Addressing the communications provider’s cable television and broadband offerings, Mr Burrows said: “Our numbers are where we anticipated they would be for television.

“Broadband did very will this year. We increased our speed by 500 per cent. We doubled our capacity coming into the country. We’re looking at increasing that capacity again. We are forever changing our infrastructure to adapt to the customer’s needs. There is no question that the country has shifted the way it uses the Internet tremendously with the additional broadband speeds that we offer.”