Cable Bahamas Ltd. (CBL) has charged that the Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority (URCA) has "absolutely no jurisdiction" over the construction of additional telecoms towers in New Providence.
CBL issued a statement late last week further condemning URCA's order to cease construction of any electronic communications towers, stressing that its recent tower construction was part of the expansion of its existing licensed services and not a foray into mobile voice services.
URCA issued the order last month, contending that CBL had not justified the necessity of additional towers. CBL has repeatedly challenged the move, arguing that it stifles local competition.
"It is the strong view of Cable Bahamas that URCA currently has absolutely no jurisdiction over the civil construction. To be clear, these services are not mobile voice and are totally independent of the second cellular license process now underway," read CBL's statement.
URCA Director of Policy and Regulation Stephen Bereaux previously told Guardian Business that the bar had been a response to what URCA felt was an "unseemly rush" to expand its set of towers.
Bereaux said that while towers were a "necessary evil," URCA had a responsibility to limit the number of towers populating the landscape. However, URCA had no official response to CBL's latest statement when contacted yesterday, noting only that it continued its position until URCA concluded its investigation.
CBL maintained that the tower rollout is part of a network development plan to improve its wireless data service to all Bahamians. This plan, CBL stated, was communicated to URCA in 2013. CBL said that the network development plan was currently 70 percent completed on New Providence.
"Cable Bahamas will utilize these towers to carry high-speed mobile data. This service is a wireless broadband service and is absolutely covered under Cable Bahamas' existing license. Furthermore, it should be noted that, far from being 'a necessary evil', a separate tower network guards against the existing single point of failure," read the statement, citing the importance of separate networks in the event of hurricanes.
URCA's bar against construction will remain in place for either three months or until URCA completes its investigation into CBL need for additional towers.
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