The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

THE Bahamas Telecommunications Company’s (BTC) new chief executive has pledged to rebuild labour relations that have been “on a rocky road for the last several years”.

Andre Foster told Tribune Business that he met with the carrier’s two trade unions on his second day in the post in a bid to “somehow get this relationship back where we need it to be” and forge “a true partnership” that meets the pressures imposed by a fast-evolving telecommunications market.

With both the line staff and management union having filed a trade dispute over BTC’s Enhanced Early Retirement Programme (EERP), which targeted 63 staff aged between 55 and 60 years, on the basis that the carrier had not complied with the terms of their respective industrial agreements, Mr Foster said he was focused on creating a relationship that represents “a win-win” for all sides.

“There’s a huge responsibility on my shoulders there,” he told this newspaper. “It’s been a rocky road with the unions for the last few years; that’s not the fault of any particular chief executive.....

“I just had my first meeting with the unions today [Tuesday]. I made it a point that they were one of the first stakeholders I met with. There’s a huge expectation on me as chief executive, and as a Bahamian chief executive, that we somehow get this relationship back to where we need it to be.

“I’m going to be transparent and up-front. We need to forge a partnership that involves give and take, and come to the table to get BTC back to greatness. We’ve served our country for 100 years and will be here for the next 1,000 years.”

Pointing out that BTC will soon hit the 10th anniversary of its 2011 privatisation to Cable & Wireless Communications (CWC), Mr Foster said over the past decade the carrier has become “a more modern, leaner company” with staffing levels reduced over that period from around 1,200 to today’s 600.

That latter figure includes BTC’s contractors and contract workers, and he added that technology’s constant development will frequently demand that the company’s staff are equipped with new skill sets. “That’s going to have some type of impact on the number of people we need on a daily basis,” Mr Foster conceded.

“We need to build a company, network and resources for the future, and that will only come from the participation of the unions and their members. It’s also getting them to help me make this company more efficient, focused on the customer and focused on reliability. They make things happen for the customer every day, and we have to forge a relationship that is a win-win.”

Mr Foster said the development of a 5G mobile network by BTC was likely a project that the carrier will start to look at in “late 2022, 2023” provided that the demand for such services was there. He revealed that such a network will be “a co-build”, likely in partnership with Cable Bahamas/Aliv, and would not be done by BTC alone due to the costs and infrastructure required.

Noting that 5G will require “a lot more towers” than are presently in The Bahamas, Mr Foster added: “We don’t see a tremendous amount of demand right now for 5G.” While BTC can draw on the experience and expertise of its main parent, Liberty Latin America, the increase in home working and studying as a result of COVID-19 means consumers are using fixed broadband more than wireless.

And 5G handset prices, with devices costing around $600 and less, also represent a barrier to consumer adoption at present, Mr Foster said.