The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A former Colina Insurance Company president has been appointed as chairman of HoldingCo, the entity that will hold the 51.75 per cent majority stake in the Bahamas’ new mobile phone operator.

Multiple Tribune Business contacts informed this newspaper that the Government has named James Campbell as HoldingCo’s chairman, although the duration of his appointment is unclear.

Mr Campbell’s appointment is understood to have been disclosed to shareholders of HoldingCo’s ‘joint venture partner’, Cable Bahamas, at the latter’s annual general meeting (AGM) on Wednesday night.

The BISX-listed communications provider, which has a minority 48.25 per cent equity stake in the new operator, NewCo 2015, still has Board and management control after successfully winning the bid for the second mobile license.

Tribune Business understands that Mr Campbell, by virtue of his position with HoldingCo, will also be NewCo’s vice-chairman, with Cable Bahamas director, Franklyn Butler, acting as its chairman.

But, given that the Government’s 100 per cent interest in HoldingCo is only temporary, and is supposed to be bought out by institutional investors via a private placement set to launch next month, it is uncertain whether Mr Campbell’s role will be of similar limited duration.

That has yet to be made clear, but it is highly likely that once the Government is replaced as HoldingCo’s owner, its new private investors will have to choose, select and vote on a chairman from among themselves.

Mr Campbell has kept a relatively low profile since the acrimonious shareholder dispute that saw him ousted from Colina Insurance Company’s presidency, and his interest in the then-Colina Financial Group (CFG), around eight to nine years ago.

He was eventually bought out by remaining owners, Emanuel Alexiou and Anthony Ferguson, following arbitration and a long-running, bitter dispute.

Subsequently, he worked as one of the Bahamian ‘point men’ for PowerSecure International on its bid to take over management of the Bahamas Electricity Corporation’s (BEC) transmission and distribution functions. That was before the process was revised to ultimately see PowerSecure take over management for BEC’s generation as well.

Mr Campbell was also a member of the Government’s Cellular Liberalisation Task Force, the body that was formed to oversee the process that ultimately saw Cable Bahamas (and NewCo) awarded the Bahamas’ second mobile license.

Meanwhile, the Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority (URCA) has rejected the Bahamas Telecommunications Company’s (BTC) argument that it needs 90 days to develop the details of any proposed National Roaming Agreement with NewCo.

The regulator has ordered that NewCo be allowed to use BTC’s existing infrastructure to offer services to its own consumers for a period of 24 months, ending on June 30, 2018, and requires that the two companies draw up an agreement containing prices and other details within 14 days.

URCA also described BTC’s arguments over the ‘roaming’ proposal as “inconsistent”, as it was simultaneously suggesting that its system would have to handle a large amount of communications traffic while also claiming the arrangement would benefit “a limited population”.

And it also rapped the incumbent carrier for statements on efficiency cost adjustments that “are out of step with relevant Bahamian law”, particularly the Communications Act.

“Obligations relating to cost recovery and price controls must reflect efficiently incurred costs,” the regulator said.

“URCA further reminds BTC that this provision holds regardless of the methodology used to set national roaming rates.

“URCA, therefore, is specifically obliged to investigate whether roaming rates reflect efficiently incurred costs, as this is the basis for calculating BTC’s rate of return on capital efficiently employed,” URCA added.

“Furthermore, URCA does not consider that allowing the recovery of only efficiently incurred costs would amount to a subsidy to NewCo.”

But, when it came to the pricing regime mobile customers will face, URCA said it would not intervene in the market prior to NewCo’s launch.

As a result, mobile consumers will pay for all calls they receive from fixed-line customers. And BTC will be allowed to levy a charge on its customers for “calling and sending messages” to NewCo subscribers.

“There is no direct link between the retail pricing regime and the payment for national roaming services,” URCA said. “Irrespective of the pricing regime on the retail level, BTC will still have to charge NewCo for any calls a NewCo customer receives or makes while roaming on BTC’s network.”