Bahamas Communications and Public Officers Union does not support Bahamas Telecommunications Company's shares being sold to Cable and Wireless

BTC union rejects bidder
BY KEVA LIGHTBOURNE ~ Guardian Senior Reporter ~ kdl@nasguard.com:



The union that represents line staff at The Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) is objecting to the government's decision to enter talks with regional telecoms giant Cable & Wireless for a 51 percent stake in the state-owned entity.

Bahamas Communications and Public Officers Union (BCPOU) President Bernard Evans said the labor body would in no way support any amount of shares being sold to Cable & Wireless.

"Their track record as far as labor relations is not good and even given the potential model that they want to implement in terms of regional governance and control, it is not conducive to the Bahamian psyche that I know, that we know," Evans explained.

"We go on record as saying that we do not support any kind of sale to Cable & Wireless."

The Nassau Guardian understands that talks begun recently between the government and Cable & Wireless over the sale of the majority interest in BTC, which employs hundreds of Bahamians. This came despite the company turning down the chance to officially bid last year when a number of partnerships paid $25,000 to be a part of the process.

Cable & Wireless had been considered among the best prospects to purchase BTC when it opted out.

The Guardian reported recently that the talks that are now taking place between the company and the government sparked frustration among the two bidders that had been short-listed, with one saying it was actively considering whether it wanted to move forward in the process.

The two existing bidders — a JP Morgan/Vodafone combination and Atlantic Tele Network (ATN), partnering with CFAL — were among four proposals, which were short-listed last October.

Evans said the union is not supporting a sale to Vodafone either.

He said while privatization for BTC has been looming for a while, Bahamians should be given the first opportunity to purchase.

"And I believe the government was trying to get as much as it can get for the 51 percent sale for BTC, but given some of the figures we have been hearing it is not that attractive," Evans said.

"We are still reserved in that BTC is a very profitable entity. It is Bahamian-controlled, Bahamian-owned, and we believe it still should be Bahamian-owned and if [there is] any opportunity for any sale Bahamians should be looked at first," he said.

Last month, Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham told The Nassau Guardian that there would be no fire sale of BTC.

"We have given the BTC privatization committee some parameters as to what bid would be acceptable to ourselves," he said.

"They are still having discussions, we expect to hear from them soon, but they have not formed any recommendation yet. We gave them the parameters but we are not having a fire sale, we don't have to sell immediately," Ingraham said.

June 8, 2010

thenassauguardian

Bahamas Blog International