By Rhenae Nunez
It would be politically profitable
for any government to
implement Voice Over the
Internet Protocol (VoIP) in
Belize, but it would also be
economically unfeasible for
both the telecommunications industry
and for the government which collects
significantly in taxes from the industry.
Neither government has articulated
this to the populace. In 2006, BTL began
blocking access to Skype, Yahoo
Messenger, Vonage and any other sites
where free or cheaper calls could be
made over the internet. Since then governments
have been grappling unsuccessfully
with this issue - neither willing
to come clean to tell the people of Belize
the truth.
Unlike other countries were VoIP is
available to consumers, Belize has a very
small population and a smaller market
to afford the service. The simple truth is
that offering VoIP will have a crippling
effect on the industry.
Despite public fervor that no one
can decide how we communicate, none
from either side of this debate have
come up with anything that would appease
consumers who are clamoring for
the service and the service providers.
Beyond the economic benefit to
consumers, VoIP would provide for
greater efficiency in transacting business
in and out of Belize. Schools at all
levels could do exchange programs while
eliminating the expense and logistics of
travelling. Customers could better communicate
with their loved ones abroad
for much cheaper.
Are Belizeans being held hostage
to an obsolete system? And�would the
answer to that question lie in the reason
why Lord Ashcroft allegedly bought
into Speednet? Opponents of the ban
on VoIP rightly contended when BTL
was still a monopoly that telecommunication
technology has evolved to wireless
technology and the poles, wires and
cables that BTL has running all over the
country are obsolete. The investment to
leapfrog into wireless technology would
be tremendous and the returns were not
guaranteed, therefore BTL could not afford
the competition of VoIP and the
loss in profits that would result from it.
The only way BTL could maintain a
profit was by charging the high rates for
basic services and do its best to stave off
competition. The company's monopoly
concession ended in 2002 however
competition did not come until October
of 2003 with the advent Intelco.
The promise of competition and the
excitement over lower telephone rates
was short lived because Intelco was declared
bankrupt by November of 2004.
Speednet (Smart), in the midst of
the Intelco collapse obtained license
approval to offer telecom service in August, 2003. While Intelco was going
under, Smart was building. During that
year interconnection and lease agreements
were hammered out. By December
of 2004 the interconnection testing
with BTL was underway and by March
of 2005 Smart launched its commercial
operations.
Competition between Smart and
BTL wasn't anything like the contention
that existed with Intelco and the
reason for that was divulged in the
House of Representatives in November
of 2010. According to Prime Minister
Barrow, former Leader of Opposition's
brother, Jaime Briceno transferred 58
shares of his shares in Speednet to a
company named Heaver Holdings allegedly
owned by Lord Ashcroft for a
grand sum of Six Million and Ninety
Thousand Dollars.
With Ashcroft purportedly in the
wireless communication business as
was indicated by the Prime Minister, it
raises some skepticism about the takeover
of BTL. Questions persist about
the motive behind the takeover and the
sudden acrimony ensued between Barrow
and his former major client, Lord
Ashcroft. How real is it? Perhaps we
may never know but some glaring elements
in this saga raise some disturbing
issues and questions.
Did Barrow do his former and current
client a favor by taking the obsolete
BTL off his hands or were the people
of Belize played by both Ashcroft
and Barrow? Ashcroft's British Caribbean
Bank (formerly Belize Bank) remains
a client of Barrow and Williams
law firm which the Prime Minister admitted
that he does draw a portion of
the profits earned by his company. Although
Barrow portrays contempt for
Lord Ashcroft in front of the Belizean
people, he continues to do business
with the Lord.
In the only meeting held with the
press in October of 2010 following
the original takeover of BTL in August
of 2009, board chairman Nestor
"Net" Vasquez said that the company
was hemorrhaging money and as the
months progress the company would
lose more in earnings.
Vasquez's assertion may have been
substantiated by the amount of money
that the new owners of BTL have had to
raise for the company. BTL had prior to
the original takeover gotten a loan from
Belize Bank and since it has been in the
hands of the Government of Belize has
gotten BZD $50million from Social Security
Board, $20 million from the Central
Bank and recently $16 million which
was borrowed from the Heritage Bank.
A total of $86 million dollars has been
raised locally to invest in BTL which
Barrow and his board of management
claimed was now making huge profits. It begs the question - why the need for
additional taxpayer money?
In November last year, Barrow
spoke circumspectly about VoIP, saying
that it will come soon but at a cost since
BTL's profit for this year will go down
due to consumers taking advantage of
the 1010-199 access code which affords
consumers cheaper long distance rates.
As recent as Monday, February 13,
Barrow was once again dangling VoIP
in front of consumers. This time he
claimed that a working group headed by
Chairman Net Vasquez and comprising
of board members and some staff are
working on a proposal that will "see a
limited implementation of VoIP in two
phases." What Barrow meant in this latest
spin is anyone's guess since the Prime
Minister has a penchant for speaking in
tongues - literally.
It will come "initially with respect to fixed lines and thereafter, of course,
with respect to cell phones," Barrow told
Channel 7's Jules Vasquez. The gaffe was
promptly noted by Vasquez who corrected
that the VoIP is an internet protocol
- but whether the Prime Minister's
mistake was genuine�I'm not too
certain - it sounding more like the PM
was BS-ing the Belizean people again.
Truth be told, the Belizean telecommunications
industry cannot afford
to offer consumers VoIP. It has less
to do with the investment to do so and
more to do with the negative economic
implications of doing so. Rather than
dangling this in front of the Belizean
people just to win re-elections - it is
time that the Barrow administration
comes clean about the many secrets of
BTL, the takeovers, VoIP and the financial
status of the company whatever else.
The Independent