With the ending of the cellular monopoly of the Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC), the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) administration has the task of leading the process of introducing another competitor to the marketplace. This version of telecommunications liberalization was set in motion by the last Free National Movement (FNM) administration when it sold 51 percent of BTC to Cable and Wireless in 2011.
The PLP criticized that deal in every possible way. It criticized the choice of the buyer. It attacked Hubert Ingraham's government for choosing a foreign firm. It charged that the FNM was not being transparent in the process. It still criticizes Cable and Wireless over the quality of the service it delivers via BTC. In fact, the PLP is pushing for a parliamentary probe of the circumstances surrounding the BTC sale.
Now, however, it is the PLP's time, with this new license, to make decisions. And the decisions the PLP administration makes will indicate to the public if its criticisms of the FNM were genuine or merely designed to score political points.
Will the PLP issue the license to a Bahamian group or a joint venture including Bahamians? Will the PLP ensure that there is a fair bidding process and not one where a favored group has the inside track from the beginning?
Will the chosen bidder have to have PLP connections? The ideal scenario with privatizations or the granting of licenses out of old monopoly situations is one in which capable and qualified local entrepreneurs are empowered. When locals become owners, the profits from the investment are more likely to stay in the country, and more indigenous people are likely to get opportunities at jobs at all levels of the business.
When the local knowledge and capital bases grow via locals becoming owners, these people then develop the strength for expansion in their country and abroad. While divesting state assets to locals is the ideal situation, these locals should be qualified and competent.
If no such group emerges and there is no way to rework the offering to encourage locals to step forward, then, and only then, should fully foreign firms be considered. The PLP said in the last election that it believes in Bahamians. It keeps saying that the FNM did it wrong with the privatization of BTC.
The PLP now is fully empowered to show us what the right way looks like with telecommunications liberalization. We heard the prime minister telling the media that he was going to meet with his liberalization group on this issue. We may have missed the announcement, and excuse us if we did, but who are the people who make up this group? The PLP thinks all private media companies are against the party and want it to fail.
All right-thinking Bahamians want the government to do well. If our government pursues sensible policies that empower Bahamians, we all benefit from that success.
We would like to see the PLP get it right with liberalization in this sector. It would be unfortunate if this process degenerates to cronyism and insider dealing, making friends and the friends of friends rich.
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