BTC CEO Geoff Houston
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Nassau, Bahamas - Customers
living, working or vacationing in The Bahamas are texting more, talking less
and accessing data at rates and speeds that not long ago would have been the
stuff of science fiction, thanks to an 18-month, $42.8 million mobile network
upgrade by BTC that has catapulted the local telecom environment ahead of many
parts of the world.
That
upgrade has sent smart phone sales and data usage soaring, said BTC CEO Geoff
Houston who unveiled details of the upgrade and the response to it to more than
120 business and civic leaders at the 9th annual Abaco Business Outlook
September 26.
"What we saw when we upgraded
our mobile offerings was an almost insatiable appetite among Bahamians for the
latest devices, the fastest downloads, the newest, the best," said
Houston. "When we launched 4G (the fastest download speeds available
worldwide) mobile voice traffic increased by 60%. Mobile data was up by 800%.
Before we upgraded, 3% of our sales were smart phones. Today nearly half of all
our phone sales are smart phones."
The project to overhaul the mobile
experience dominated the company's agenda in the first year following the April
2011 privatization.
"The platform created a brand
new wireless experience," said Houston. "As part of a $3 billion
conglomerate, instead of a $350 million standalone, BTC has been able to
benefit from greater buying power. That allowed us to slash our mobile data
plans by 25%. We reduced post paid charges. We reduced the cost of pre-paid
minutes. We eliminated inter-island toll charges for calls originating from
mobile phones. We are launching 4G in all the islands and hope to have that
completed well before the end of this year. Andros and Cat Island are complete.
Long Island should be done by mid-October. Most of New Providence and Grand
Bahama are complete with a few areas still being worked on."
According to BTC's Senior
Manager for Public Relations, Jerome Sawyer, BTC aims to finish the
build-out with enhanced 2G for voice and 4G for data by year-end.
"We replaced the antiquated
legacy 2G platform for voice with a new 2G platform for a better voice
experience," he said. "Here in Abaco, where we have installed new
cell sites, you only have to think back two years ago to what it was like. If you
had turned around in your own house, you would have lost a call. Or if it
rained or if you were out of range of a cell site."
There are now 42 cell sites in
Abaco, second in number only to New Providence with 46. There are 183 cell
sites throughout The Bahamas.
With the upgraded platforms in
place or nearly complete, BTC plans to spark sales of smart phones, especially
for holiday gift-giving.
"We
have discovered that a lot of customers still do not know the benefits of high
speed data and how it can improve their lives so we will be launching an
educational campaign in the coming weeks to demonstrate those benefits and
ensure that everyone understands how it can work for them personally or for
their business," said Sawyer. "What's especially rewarding is that these
upgrades have allowed us to provide universal service to our customers so no
matter how remote your settlement is, you can enjoy the same level of service
that the most sophisticated office in New York or London has. BTC subscribers
in Exuma, Eleuthera, Abaco, Cat Island and now even Andros can enjoy the same
level of service as family and friends in New Providence and Grand Bahama. And when we undertake the next phase The
Bahamas will be on par, if not ahead of some developed countries in
telecommunications."
In the past 18 months, BTC also
transformed the customer experience, opening its first flagship store in the
Mall at Marathon before Christmas last year and eight more since on six
islands. Others are under construction. The company made it easier to top up
online or at retail outlets for as little as a $1 and is now aiming to take
2300 models of outdated phones out of customers' hands by advertising
attractive trade-in-and-up offers between now and October 6.