It cannot be denied that both the PLP and FNM political parties favoured privatising BaTelCo. This point alone makes so much of the political rhetoric a waste of good ink and paper.
In a perfect world the former government should have gotten more for BTC, but people pay what the market will bear. At the time BTC's profits were declining as a result of VOIP and Internet etc so maybe they got the best deal they could?
During the 2012 election campaign the present government said they would "take BTC back". "Negotiating" a deal whereby less than 2% of shares are placed in a in a charitable trust with no board or management control is quite different. Now if we are judging CWC's gift to the government for attempting to brow beat them to help save face, well it's a good deal. But considered in the light of all the political rhetoric that went down about taking the company back, it's a joke.
Also in hindsight it might have been better to contract an independent management firm and then maybe sell equity in the form of shares, getting government out of it altogether?
But, some Bahamians were not asking for 100% of the shares to be sold to Bahamians as a share offering? They wanted it sold to some Bahamians whether they could meet the requirements or not. As mentioned recently, one gets the feeling that certain people wanted it sold to Bahamians simply because it was profitable and a few more Bahamians could be instant millionaires. Not exactly a sound position for the future of the business.
Don't mean to speculate what people meant, but I don't see any of those folks clamouring to buy ZNS, Bahamasair or even get into the cellular business.
The simple answer is the government should get on with the liberalisation process and sell their 49% equity on the capital market. Hopefully Bahamians are able to buy the shares as well as get in the phone business with cellular ventures and more.
The political rhetoric has hopefully reached its zenith and common sense will begin to set in.
I'm not sure these are my last words on this subject either.
As my late friend Andre Cartwright you to say “you’re leaping over razor wire naked” when you chose to state what the people meant by sell BTC to Bahamians. Both you and I know that the rhetoric is usually based on the option presented not on a through analysis. As for Bahamainas not clamouring for the other public corporations, they are money losers. Nobody other than a corporate raider or turnaround king would want them. The Bahamian public is not that gullible As for hiring a management team, the one BTC had under Leon’s leadership needed pruning but the skill sets were there. The main issue was that BTC was a political creation. Its survival and success in a liberalized environment required that that chord be broken (by whatever means. some more effective then others). We do agree though that it is time to get on with liberalization. Let the past be the past.
Thanks for stopping by and commenting.
Not sure BaTelCo was headed in the right direction with all the political interference. Reason enough for the government to be out of it.
So those Bahamians that saw such a great opportunity can jump on the liberalisation wagon and invest then?
Thanks for confirming my point we need to move on and liberalise the market.
You may be interested to know that part of what C&W purchased, was warehouses full of un-implemented technology, equipment purchased, still new in box, but quickly made obsolete.
One bank at least, that I know of did the same with ATM technology and machines.
By the time all the infrastructure was available to support them, those machines were old news.
(and dead money)
The waste on the technology front, and the over staffing, pilfering, no disconnected for non payment,
well, I suppose private sector operatives can hold the hard line Governments cannot.
(given their propensity to promise everything to everyone, and deliver none without shorting or adding costs!)
I suspect this new “foundation” will simply become the dispensary for funds to be accessed by the political.
SO they can be seen running the handouts as usual.