State-owned incumbent Bahamas Telecommunications Company has attacked a recent report by the Utilities Regulation & Competition Authority on its termination rates, according to The Bahamas Tribune.
BTC slammed as “flawed” the industry regulator’s…
State-owned incumbent Bahamas Telecommunications Company has attacked a recent report by the Utilities Regulation & Competition Authority on its termination rates, according to The Bahamas Tribune.
BTC slammed as “flawed” the industry regulator’s benchmark study of its termination rates, arguing that the conclusions drawn over its fixed-line voice services are “invalidated” because none of the other jurisdiction studied were comparable to the Bahamas’ 42-island archipelago.
The report was drawn up as part of UCRA’s consultation exercise as part of the process of privatisation.
However, in a statement BTC claimed that it was “highly inappropriate” to compare BTC’s proposed intra-island termination rates with those levied in the jurisdiction sample selected.
“The other termination rates represent tariffs for call termination on a single island or small group of islands,” BTC claimed. “This is obviously not comparable to a situation where call termination is provided across 42 islands in the Bahamas using an extensive under-sea cable network.”
“It is clear from the graph that Bahrain is such an outlier compared with Caribbean benchmarks that a more reasonable conclusion would be that Bahrain may not provide a relevant comparison,” BTC said.
BTC and UCRA were unavailable for comment at the time of going to press.
