URCA: BTC doesn't have to unbundle

Tue, Dec 23rd 2014, 12:46 PM

Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) will not be required to unbundle its broadband Internet and Internet Protocol TV (IPTV) services for the foreseeable future, according to Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority (URCA) Director of Policy and Regulation Stephen Bereaux.
Speaking on Guardian Talk Radio talk show "Morning Blend" with Dwight Strachan, Bereaux suggested that the bundling of the web-based TV service, which requires a BTC broadband connection, is necessary in the short to medium term in order to encourage competition in the pay-TV market.
"There's a cost to deliver broadband to a home and the nature of BTC's product is that one cannot be delivered without the other. It's not the same as cable in that sense.
"If we told them as someone without any customers that they must provide this broadband system for free in order to deliver your TV system, it would be uneconomic from a market perspective and they wouldn't do it," said Bereaux.
While acknowledging that Cable Bahamas is required to unbundle its cable TV and Internet services, Bereaux said BTC's bundling is a moot concern for the time being because its IPTV service is not offered in any areas that had access to cable broadband, stating that the impact of BTC bundling its services did not "deny" people cable TV.
"Much of the way URCA regulates is based on regulating most heavily the operators who have significant market power in a particular market. Within pay-TV, Cable Bahamas has significant market power (SMP); BTC does not.
"Currently BTC only has a handful of customers, the services are really only available on Bimini for now, and at the rate that BTC has indicated it will [progress] it will likely be a long time before BTC has SMP in pay TV, if ever," said Bereaux.
Cable Bahamas currently controls over 92 percent of the country's pay TV market. However, Bereaux said there is no concrete threshold of market share that BTC would have to cross before URCA revisited its stance on the matter.
BTC officially launched its IPTV services in Bimini last week, which provides digital channels through a broadband Internet connection. AT&T, one of the world's leading IPTV providers, has touted the flexibility of the technology compared to "traditional" cable or satellite TV.
BTC CEO Leon Williams earlier said that BTC will conduct beta testing with roughly 100 Biminites before expanding to other small family island communities without access to cable TV in 2015. To date, there is no projected date to introduce the service to New Providence.

Click here to read more at The Nassau Guardian

 Sponsored Ads