Remarks for the Prime Minister for the Launch for Request for Proposals to Operate the Cellular Mobile Network in The Bahamas made on November 12th, 2014: My Government is abundantly aware that the people of The Bahamas have been anxiously awaiting competition in the area of cellular telephone services

It also goes without saying that advancements in mobile and broadband technology have revolutionised the way we communicate globally. These changes have resulted in only positive implications for personal and economic development.

While my Government recognises BTC’s efforts to continuously modernise their cellular service offerings here in The Bahamas we, nonetheless, consider that in order to enable all Bahamians to benefit from, and participate in an intensely integrated global economy, it is critical that access to mobile and broadband technology becomes more affordable and accessible toeveryone in our society. Inevitably, competition in the provision of cellular mobile services will bring The Bahamas another step closer to making these goals reality.

There is also a need for improvements in coverage (from Abaco to Inagua), service quality, network redundancy and resilience, the latter of which are particularly important in light of our country’s vulnerability to natural disasters.

The Process and High-Level Criteria

Ladies and Gentlemen, over the last several months, the Cellular Liberalisation Task Force has been working assiduously to design a process, based on ‘best practice’ principles that would ensure that the Government is in a position to select the most qualified candidate to be this country’s second cellular operator. In executing its mandate, the Task Force sought the advice of URCA, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Charles Russell Speechlys LLP law firm and Hogan Lovells law firm (both of the UK), as well as Mr. Mark Sills (Trade Consultant to The Government of The Bahamas). I am assured that the process has been designed to be transparent, fair and above all, objective.

Not only was the Task Force charged with establishing criteria that would ensure that the successful candidate would have the technical and financial capability to meet the obligations of the licences to be awarded....But... the process has also been designed to take into account the extent to which the widest base of Bahamians could participate in the ownership of the new provider. The latter was of particular importance to me as Prime Minister, given my Government’s pledge in our “Charter for Governance” to expand the role of Bahamians as investors in our economy. My Government is passionately committed to ensuring that ALL Bahamians benefit from the economic fruit of the country and not just a select few.

Mindful of this objective, the Task Force has gone to great lengths to ensure that the proposed ownership arrangement has adequately balanced the competing priorities of:

· The Bahamas’ international trade commitments and negotiating positions such as those under the European Partnership Agreement and the ongoing WTO negotiations to be more specific-;

· A commercially attractive investment proposition to potential investors; and

· the long-term best interest of the Bahamian people.

The competitive selection process that will be adopted for the award of a second cellular licence is a two-phased approach, involving a technical and financial assessment in Phase I and a spectrum auction in Phase II. Only those applicants that satisfy the minimum criteria of Phase I will be allowed to participate in Phase II. The Successful Applicant in the end will be the one which acquires the highest combined score of the scores derived in Phase I and Phase II.

With this approach, the Government is seeking to strike the right balance of optimising the revenue from allocating rights to valuable spectrum, with its broader objectives of promoting competition, investment and innovation in the cellular mobile market.

The Phase I assessment will be conducted by an Evaluation Committee, comprising of members of the Cellular Liberalisation Task Force in addition to persons whose expertise would be valuable given the scope of the proposals that are likely to be submitted in response to the RFP. The Spectrum Auction will be administered by URCA on the Government’s behalf .

Addressing the issue of Transparency

The Task Force has created a website where persons can obtain further details about the Task Force and the selection process on the Government’s website:

http://www.bahamas.gov.bs/ cellularliberalisation.

In order to receive a copy of the RFP, an interested party MUST register to participate in the process. All Registered Entities will have the opportunity to seek clarification on the RFP via a virtual data room that has been set up by the Task Force. All queries made and responses to those queries will be posted within the data room for all Registered Entities to see. This will be the only mechanism for persons participating in this process to communicate with the Task Force and/or the Evaluation Committee about this process.

As expected in a process of this nature, the members of the Task Force are bound by confidentiality obligations in respect of their activities both as Task Force members and members of the Evaluation Committee. However, as deemed appropriate by the Chairman of the Task Force, periodic updates on the progress of the process will be made available to the public via the website.

Projected Time Frames

The Task Force has projected a time frame for the selection of a successful candidate within six (6) months, i.e. by the end of April 2015.

Further announcements will be made as events and circumstances warrant.

It remains only for me now to formally introduce the Task Force members to you and to publicly commend them for the excellent job they have done to date and to wish them well in all their future endeavours as our telecommunications industry prepares now to move to “the next level.”