The Tribune

By AVA TURNQUEST

Tribune Chief Reporter

aturnquest@tribunemedia.net

PRESIDENT of the Bahamas Communications and Public Officers Union Bernard Evans said yesterday that any job redundancies at BTC linked to projected losses as a result of the entry of mobile competitor Aliv will not be accepted by workers.

Mr Evans, who represents BTC workers, said unionists will remain vigilant in the face of company projections that the new operator will snag as much as 30 per cent of its mobile customer base.

Revenue from mobile customers represents 70 cents of every dollar made by the company, according to a BTC insider, who explained that pre-paid mobile customers accounted for more than 90 per cent of that share.

The insider said that the telecommunications provider would be effectively “crippled” if incurred losses met or exceeded 30 per cent.

When called for comment yesterday, Mr Evans said: “Here is what was said to us, in any market where you have a new entrant you can expect (loss of) anywhere from 15 per cent to 30 per cent of your market, that is the norm. But here is what our math is telling us, when this happened in Jamaica and other Caribbean countries, most people who have cellphones are those who have two cellphones. What we find is they kept their two phones but gave up one and had one from each provider.

“It’s not that BTC will lose revenue, you will have some of that, but you will have in most cases people that can afford two will not have two eggs in one basket.”

He added: “We’ve been watching this for a very long time so we anticipate, we’ve done our homework, we know for a fact people are not going to give up their cellphone at BTC. We don’t fear job losses because Aliv will be taking our lunch. I don’t see people giving up their primary phone for a phone that only works here in Nassau.”

NewCo, the country’s second mobile services provider, unveiled its operations brand Aliv with simultaneous launches in New Providence and Grand Bahama last week.

The company is slated to begin services on November 23.

Mr Evans pointed out that the introduction of new BTC services, like FLOW TV, will offset losses as the company has seen an increased demand for the product in Family Islands with bandwidth capacity. He also noted that another new revenue stream will come from lease agreements with Aliv for its use of BTC’s cell towers.

However, he said, he would not be surprised if the company tried to use any loss sustained as a result of the new entrant as a catalyst for redundancies as majority shareholder Liberty Global was keen to “cut the fat” wherever it could.

“Liberty has always been about streamlining, they might try to use that but we will be vigilant and watching the books. We now have new revenue,” Mr Evans said.

“We realise we can’t force management to keep everybody employed, they have a right to run a business but the law provides that we get an opportunity to see the books. The government owns 49 per cent so there’s an obligation of the government to ensure they don’t run amok and chop off the heads of employees just to keep a profit margin.

“If any company is making a net $50m in profit, I can’t see that company talking about letting people go. We will keep the government’s feet to the fire.”