Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) mobile customers could experience "cell phone difficulties" until the end of next month, as BTC seeks to upgrade its system, Senior Vice President of Brand and Communications Marlon Johnson said yesterday.
Johnson said system upgrades could result in dropped calls and slow data service.
He said BTC officials hope to wrap up the optimization process by mid-July, but added that it may take longer.
"We are doing a round of optimization in New Providence," he said.
"Customers could experience cell phone difficulties, but once that is done customers can expect better performance and a lower number of dropped calls.
"Right now we are recalibrating our cell towers. We had issues with coverage and capacity. Unfortunately, we can't shut down the network to do this because we have to do it when the cell towers are live.
"Also, we have to do it during the day time...so we anticipate dropped calls and data issues."
The optimization process has been ongoing for about three weeks, Johnson said.
He added that BTC is upgrading its system to address previous concerns about cellular service.
He acknowledged that the process has resulted in more complaints.
BTC apologized to the public for the interruptions.
There have been increased complaints about BTC's service in the past week.
Earlier this year, Prime Minister Perry Christie noted that there was concern about the number of dropped calls.
Following Christie's comments, Attorney General Allyson Maynard-Gibson also called on BTC to "get its act together".
"Communication is important," she said.
"...As liberalization proceeds, the existing holder of the monopoly has to get its act together.
"There is going to be competition and it is usual for service providers in this day to guarantee no black spots, no phone calls dropped and reliable service and that is what we are headed to in the future."
BTC's monopoly on the cellular market ended on April 6.
Christie said the government is moving swiftly to award a second cellular license in the shortest possible time.
He said the government established a task force to prepare to award the license following the expiration of CWC's monopoly.

Click here to read more at The Nassau Guardian