Cable & Wireless Communications Limited (CWC), part owner of the Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC), said despite the entrance of BeAliv Limited as the second provider of cellular mobile services in the country, BTC's subscriber base grew by 6,000 on a quarter to date (QTD) basis through increased data-led promotional activity.
The telecommunications giant, in its preliminary results for the period ended December 31, 2016 published last week, stated that it was able to grow its subscriber base in The Bahamas across mobile, video and Internet products on a year-to-date (YTD) basis.
"Momentum is steadily building in our video RGU (revenue generating unit) base through penetration of our newly constructed fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) network," said CWC.
"Despite the entrance into the market of our first mobile competitor in
November 2016, we were able to grow our subscriber base by 6,000 QTD through increased data-led promotional activity."
In the face of BeAliv entering the telecommunications market, there is a possibility that BTC could lose market share.
CEO of BTC Leon Williams once said that BTC could lose $100 million when a second mobile company enters the market. "If the new entrant takes 30 percent of the customer base, it means that BTC will lose one third of its revenue. Its revenue would go from $320 million a year to $220 million a year," said Williams.
Before the second mobile competitor launched its mobile services last year, CWC pinned a drop in its mobile revenue to The Bahamas in its preliminary second quarter 2016/2017 results, published in November 2016. CWC said its mobile revenue was two percent lower in the second quarter of 2016/2017 as compared to the same quarter in 2015/16 on a rebased basis, due primarily to a revenue decrease in The Bahamas.
In addition, CWC revealed that BTC incurred total infrastructure repair costs estimated at $35 million to $45 million as a result of Hurricane Matthew, adding that BTC suffered significant infrastructure damage and business interruption from the Category 4 storm. CWC stated that its third-party insurance was expected to cover a significant portion of the hurricane-related losses.
However, in this financial review, CWC pointed out that for The Bahamas and another regional neighbor, mobile subscribers spiked significantly during the holiday period.
"Mobile subscribers grew by 11,000 on an organic basis YTD and by 50,000 QTD as promotions drove increased sales during the holiday period, particularly in Jamaica and The Bahamas," said CWC.
CWC highlighted Jamaica's strong performance in mobile subscriber growth, which marked a total of nearly one million for the first time.
"Jamaica continued its mobile subscriber momentum with particularly strong growth QTD as mobile subscribers rose by 56,000, moving above 900,000 in total for the first time. We posted 21,000 organic RGU additions with growth across our internet and telephony services, driven by improved bundling propositions," said CWC.
CWC continued: "Organic increase (decrease) in RGUs of 2,000 YTD and (20,000) QTD were impacted by an adjustment that we recorded in Q4 to eliminate 30,000 non-paying subscribers from our subscriber counts.
"Internet and telephony subscribers were up 7,000 and 2,000 respectively YTD on an organic basis, as we increased penetration across our high-speed networks and sold more bundled packages, particularly in Jamaica and Trinidad."

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