During his contribution to debate on the mid-year budget communication in the House of Assembly yesterday -- and based on the fact that it is 100 percent Bahamian-owned -- Free National Movement Leader Dr. Hubert Minnis seemed to endorse the bid of Cable Bahamas Ltd. (CBL) for the second mobile license, due to be awarded before summer 2015. Minnis also questioned the identities of the partners behind the Virgin Mobile bid. It has been asserted that Junkanoo Mobile -- a Bahamian mobile startup which had announced an intention to bid for the license -- has partnered with Virgin, but Junkanoo principal Franklyn Winder has not commented in the public arena.
Pressed by Guardian Business after his contribution to say whether he is indeed endorsing Cable Bahamas' bid, Minnis said, "I am pro-Bahamian. I believe in Bahamians and Bahamian ownership."
Speaking to the cellular liberalization process, Minnis noted that the Christie administration was touting its intention to see that there is broad ownership by Bahamians of 51 percent of the company granted the license. There are three companies vying for the license. Cable Bahamas, which Minnis stressed is 100 percent Bahamian-owned, Digicel -- a foreign company -- and Virgin Mobile, whose bid is being put forward by a consortium including Virgin and a holding group.
"Who is this holding group? People want to know," Minnis charged. "No hiding behind companies."
He tossed off a list of company names -- including Boy George investment, My Dog Ruth investment, or Snake investment -- and queried whether they were part of the consortium. By contrast, Minnis noted Cable Bahamas' 100 percent Bahamian ownership and more than 2,400 share holders. Minnis pointed out that CBL shares are now $14.25 each, which he said represented a 1,425 percent capital gain from $1.00 investment.
BEC sold one million shares in 2007 and made 800 percent profit, that is $8 Million dollars, he said. Minnis pointed out that -- if it is a question of Bahamian ownership -- NIB has 22 percent investment in Cable Bahamas and the Public Treasury has 7 percent investment. He added that Cable employs 470 Bahamians directly and up to 600 indirectly.
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