One of the country's leading businessmen thinks that Cable Bahamas Limited (CBL) should be entitled to a price increase in monthly charges for its SuperBasic TV package. Dionisio D'Aguilar, president of Superwash, told Guardian Business that it is "unreasonable" to expect CBL or any other business operating in The Bahamas not to raise the price on its products or services.
"I think that it's a little unreasonable to expect any business to keep their prices at the same amount for close to 20 years. I can see maybe five years, but not 20," he said. "There is no business today that I know of that is charging the same price today that they did in 1995. Certainly, that's not the case for Superwash. "We all know that expenses and operating costs have gone up exponentially. You don't want to drive a business to the point where it's unattractive to offer their products."
His comments came one day after the Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority (URCA) announced a public consultation process before making a decision on CBL's request. On December 1, 2011, CBL submitted an application to URCA for a 27 percent increase in monthly charges for its SuperBasic cable TV service. D'Aguilar pointed out if companies like CBL aren't allowed increases, it could get to the point where it is not attractive to do business in The Bahamas.
"I do agree there must be some oversight to a company that's operating in a monopolistic environment, but I think that if you don't give them some increases they are going to be forced to get vicious in order to get an increase," he said. "You can't expect your cable product to remain fresh if you don't allow them to charge a bit more every so often."
However, as a regulator D'Aguilar also thinks URCA has to come up with mechanisms that measure the quality of service being offered in these cases, something Winston Rolle, CEO of the Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers Confederation (BCCEC), agrees with. "People are still concerned that not all of the islands have cable service as yet. Some complain about the quality of service," he said. "These are all issues that need to be looked at as you start to go through this decision process."
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