The privatisation of the Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) was completed on Wednesday, with the sale of 51 percent of the shares to Cable & Wireless Communications (CWC).
The government of The Bahamas has received the purchase price of $210 million from CWC paid in full, as well as in kind and cash completion dividends from BTC amounting to $14.3 million.
CWC has taken management control effective Wednesday.
One of the effects of the revised Sector Policy is that, as of Wednesday, the clock has started ticking for the liberalisation of cellular services. The process for liberalisation will commence three years from April 6, 2011.
“This privatisation, a process started 14 years ago, is essential for the advancement of the Bahamian economy. It is no longer about telecommunications; rather we are now in a world of converged communications. Technology advancement is moving at a lightning fast pace, requiring huge investments, economies of scale and deep technical expertise. The Bahamian people deserve and indeed, rightly demand, more minutes for less money, more products with better quality, excellent service and more business and profit opportunities for themselves,” the government said in a press statement.
The government also said it is committed to making The Bahamas an international business centre of choice, committed to giving Bahamians access to the latest and best technologies available in communications and committed to opening the economy for the further participation of progressive, innovative Bahamian entrepreneurs.
“The vision for BTC of the government and CWC, is that BTC will continue to be recognized as a Bahamian company, operating for the benefit of the people and the economy of The Bahamas; that it will be viewed as a great customer centric and sales and marketing organization, which offers excellent value for money, that delivers the services that customers want, and that it will be a company that Bahamians choose to buy from and work for,” the government added.
CWC is a global full-service communications business that operates communications businesses in thirty-eight countries through four regional units — the Caribbean, Panama, Macau and Monaco and Islands — and has close to $2.5 billion revenues. Its services are highly complementary to those of BTC and include mobile, broadband and domestic and international fixed line services, as well as pay-TV, data centre and hosting, carrier and managed service solutions.
