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New Team In at BTL

The new government-installed executive management team at BTL had its first full day in office at the Esquivel Telecom Center today. There are no reports coming out as we gather they are busy getting up to speed with current and prospective events at the country's largest telecommunications provider. A release from the company - the first from its new management - reports that when they went in at a few minutes to five yesterday - the new board of directors first held a meeting with BTL's Heads of Department. The release reports that it was cordial and harmonious. They were unable to meet with the union but report that they intend to have that meeting shortly.

After that, the board went into its introductory meeting. The board is chaired by the architect of the first privatization of BTL Nestor Vasquez and has the membership of a trio of Prime Ministerial advisors: Manuel Esquivel, Alan Slusher and Dr. Carla Barnett, along with Ministry of Finance CEO Audrey Wallace, as well as Ambrose Tillett, Anuar Barrow and Secretary Lois Young. We are informed that they intend to hold a press conference possibly in next week.

And while the board has been busy, the PUP has been silent. We've heard the not exactly identical positions of Leader John Briceno and Deputy Mark Espat - but quite surprisingly - there has been no official statement issued from the PUP on this most dramatic event.

Today - there was no statement issued from Ashcroft-dom. We do know though that his television station Channel 5 has been busy moving into new digs at what was formerly the NDFB Building on Coney Drive. BTL paid Social Security over four million dollars for that building - but it wasn't a donation and now that Channel 5 is no longer a BTL subsidiary, it is unclear how the phone company will get back the money it paid. After the takeover Channel 5 had to abandon its new studios at BTL on Church Street

http://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=14868

B.E.L. concerned over nationalization of utility company

A commercial dispute has ended up in the nationalization of Belize Telemedia. Since Tuesday the Government took over full control of the telephone utility company, which, at least for now being, is run by businessman Nestor Vasquez and Anwar Barrow, the son of the Prime Minister. So what lies ahead for the other utility company, Belize Electricity Limited? Its parent company, Fortis operates out of Canada. Fortis' C.E.O., Stan Marshall, has sparked fiery rhetoric at government in the past over rate disputes with the Public Utilities Commission. There were once talks of nationalizing the electric company� that did not go anywhere. But things have changed dramatically in the last forty-eight hours. At his first quarterly press conference on May twenty-ninth last year, Prime Minister Dean Barrow said the government would be interested in buying back B.E.L. And in light of Telemedia's hostile takeover, B.E.L.'s C.E.O. Lynn Young expressed concern today about the future of the utility company.

Lynn Young, C.E.O., Belize Electricity Limited
"If the government wants to take back the company, I personally prefer to see it done in a more amicable manner. That's an option the government always has; if they want to take back the company; sit down and try to work it out. I think that's always better than a hostile takeover. It is a possibility that is obviously more likely now in the sense that we have a government that seems now to not hesitate about it. Maybe they did hesitate, I don't know, but is willing to go that step. But having said so, it is a really drastic step and I don't think any government would or should make such a step lightly because as has been expressed in the media already, it sends a certain message to investors. And it's not the best message. Mister Marshall has said already that if he knew what he knows now, he wouldn't have invested in Belize. He said that publicly. You know the government has to look at those statements and take it for what they think it is and make changes accordingly. But coming back to B.E.L., even before this happened with B.T.L., I think the situation in B.E.L. has reached a point which I have expressed to the government, that something's got to be done. The company as a result of the decision last year is in a situation where the banks won't lend it money. And the investors are saying they won't invest in the company. And it is not realistic for us to have a utility like B.E.L. that's the life and blood of the organization cannot more-the company cannot borrow money to do any expansions and it cannot get investments. So, as I have put it publicly, on several occasions, something has to be done. Fortis, obviously, has to look after its own interest. And I know it is doing so. Will it be a court case? Probably. And I don't think the government is not expecting that. I'm hoping we can get things resolved before it gets to that. Because obviously when it gets to that then we would be going down the same road that we saw B.T.L. went. But what happens, if it works that way, then we just have to deal with it right. Fortis has said that, publicly again, that if the offer was right, they would sell. I think Mister Marshall said that on Open Your Eyes that he said that they would do that. Perhaps what has happened here might even add to his anxiety, but I don't want to put words in his mouth and I don't want to speak for him. All I can say is he said publicly that if the offer was made, he would."

If there is any comfort, according to a government release today, Act Number Nine, which led to the takeover of Telemedia, is limited to telecommunications.

http://www.channel5belize.com/archive_detail_story.php?story_id=25124

Senator's vote did not represent Chamber's position

Following Telemedia's takeover on Monday, the Belize Chamber of Commerce and Industry stated that they viewed with concern the Amendment to the Telecommunications Act and the haste with which it was dealt. The Chamber also felt that the business community at home and abroad may be more discriminatory when considering future investments in Belize and that government's action is likely to have wide-ranging repercussions on current and future investments. And while he was appointed to represent the Chamber on the Senate, Senator Godwin Hulse makes no apologies for voting in favour of the bill. When we checked with the Chamber of Commerce on Hulse's vote, we were told that the Chamber is looking at the situation to clarify the matter and that Hulse sits on the Senate as a representative of the private sector, the Chamber of Commerce and the Business Bureau, and not in his own capacity.

http://www.channel5belize.com/archive_detail_story.php?story_id=25125

Senator Hulse clarifies his position on nationalization

The Senator spoke to News Five today and said he does not have a problem with any other company related to the Ashcroft group of companies, including Smart, the other telecommunications supplier. Hulse says he does not see how the take-over could be extended to Smart.

Godwin Hulse, Senator
"As far as I know they are a different company, a different business with different licenses operating in their own right. So, I could not see how on earth it could be extended to them. I don't see how it could be extended to them. The enabling position was so that government could bring an end, if you like, to the continued litigations, fights to collect its taxes, all premise on an accommodation agreement which has nothing to do with Smart whatsoever. In all my presentations in the Senate, I never called Lord Ashcroft's name. He is a legitimate businessman doing business the way business people do it and he is a smart businessman clearly. We are talking Telemedia-that is the company, that is the entity that is in court-that is the entity that has the Accommodation Agreement; that is the entity that we're dealing with. Channel Five is a legitimate business house doing business like any other business house and doing a good job. There could be no difficulty with Channel Five. Why would there be any difficulty with the Belize Bank? The Belize Bank is one of Belize's largest banks doing legitimate business, having a lot of customers, people go there doing transactions. That's a legitimate business."

http://www.channel5belize.com/archive_detail_story.php?story_id=25126

Belize Business Bureau says govt was hasty with Telemedia

But while Hulse says he feels he did the right thing, the Belize Business Bureau does not support his position. President of the Bureau, Misael Flores, told News Five today that while the Bureau is of the view that government was too hasty in making the decision - one that could have some serious implications for investor's confidence in Belize.

Misael Flores, President, Belize Business Bureau
"We would have liked to maybe have had the opportunity to have an input and if we felt that that was the only way to go, then we would have supported it. But without knowing any details, we cannot say whether we support the matter or not. We did not have a discussion with the Senator prior to him making his vote, but we would have expected that he having seen the statement that the Chamber had put out, that he would have either abstained from supporting or would have voted no. Taking over or nationalizing a company or a private enterprise in this manner sends a wrong signal to the investment community internationally because then no investor would want to come to Belize and invest their money with the fear that at any point in time the government can take such actions, so it does not send a good signal. We believe that it may have been possible to have arrived at some negotiated settlement in the same manner that it was done a couple years ago when the government felt that it was in the best interest of the Belizean public to nationalize the Belize Water Services. It was done through a negotiated settlement. And so, we don't really know what transpired and if we had been consulted or more involved in this matter, we would have been able to make, take, a position."

The Belize Business Bureau represents over three hundred businesses over the entire country.

http://www.channel5belize.com/archive_detail_story.php?story_id=25127

B.E.L. says it can supply country's power demands

You will know that there have been scheduled blackouts around the country. In July the Public Utilities Commission (P.U.C.) held a press conference regarding the loss of power supply from its main source, Comision Federal de Electricidad; its generator at West Lake Park on the Western Highway and from Hydro Maya. It all came in a flurry, and the P.U.C. had to admit that B.E.L. would likely be forced to resort to rotating power outages around the country. The black- out scare was real, but it didn't quite live up to the hype. But are we yet out of those troubled waters? B.E.L.'s C.E.O., Lynn Young explains.

Lynn Young, C.E.O., Belize Electricity Limited
"We've completed repairs at West lake. That took us about little over a week-I think it was about ten days to get it back in service. It was an expected-during one of the routine maintenance, we found one of the shafts had a little burn on it and the manufacturer advised that we should get it replaced to avoid a catastrophic failure. So we decided we had to take it out and that was just about ten days. The problem is that C.F.E., during that time, had one of its main units out and then later on they had another one of their units its Merida that they had taken out. So C.F.E. had given us notice that they cannot guarantee the supply to Belize. We worked out an arrangement with them where they would supply power, kind of, what we call interruptible power that they could just give us short moments notice and take off the power. We have enough in country sources to keep the power on even without C.F.E., but ones the gas turbine had to be taken out, then we need that if C.F.E. had called us, we would have to have rotating outages as it turns out C.F.E. was able to keep on the power during those ten days and now we have the gas turbine back. So right now, we are still 'ify' with C.F.E. C.F.E. is still in a situation where they call every so often and say they can't supply power because they are still trying to get their machines back up and running. They have said that they should be out of the situation sometime in September. But because we have hydro running at full tilt right now, the gas turbine is back on line. So, between those and the Belize Aquaculture-the power that we are buying from them-even when C.F.E. says its can't supply us, we can supply whole country with those sources."

http://www.channel5belize.com/archive_detail_story.php?story_id=25128