The Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) stands to lose upwards of $25 million in roaming revenue for the year once it finalizes new bilateral agreements with U.S. and Canadian telecoms companies, according to BTC CEO Leon Williams.
Williams told NB12 that negotiations are ongoing with AT&T Wireless, T-Mobile and Canadian telecoms company Rogers Communications, which had previously threatened to prohibit their customers from roaming in The Bahamas over BTC's rates.
"We're working strategically with the roaming partners to form new bilateral agreements so there's a level of reciprocity where we charge one rate and we collect on their behalf, they charge another rate and collect on our behalf. That's one of the reasons why we're trying to manage our costs. We're looking at taking anything in the neighborhood of $25 million off of our balance sheet this year in roaming rates," he said.
Williams initially projected that the hit to roaming revenues would slash the company's year-end revenues from $52 million to $25 million a year once the dust settles.
Aside from losing in excess of $2 million a month on tweaked roaming charges, Williams said that changes to BTC's billing system for roaming customers would lead to further losses. The news comes as BTC officials project that the country's second cellular company, due to be announced next month, could cost BTC 30 percent of its market share.
As BTC prepares for competition, Williams said that the company must do more to maximize on potential new revenue streams while striving to reduce costs. Williams said that the company is already seeking to diversify its product offerings through its broadband-based Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) while looking into new revenue sources, such as mobile money.
Williams said that mobile money, which allows customers to transfer funds via cellular devices without the need for a bank account, is a key area of interest as BTC adapts to the loss of its lucrative roaming revenue given the banking difficulties faced by many family island residents and the growing demand for remittance payment methods from the country's expat communities.
"There's a whole list of new revenue streams we're working on right now as part of our business plan to make up for the shortfall in roaming charges. Mobile money is definitely one of those. We've got a large unbanked and underbanked community, people in the Family Islands who have to come to Nassau to do banking.
"We've got to find ways in the country to assist those persons and the technology is here to do it," Williams said.
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