BTL -NATIONALISED

[pedro]

BTL which has been providing the worst possible service of any telephone company has been nationalised today-unbelievable

[deadserious]

While I disagree with any government take over of a private business, I have high hopes that this will remove the one remaining barrier to my moving down there permanently.

I would have much rather seen them work to induce competition or otherwise break apart the monopoly which would take a free market approach to the solution.  On the other hand, from Barrow's comments it looks like the nationalization is a very temporary measure.  The intention appears to be to sell 51% of the company to Belizean citizens and 49% to anyone with money with no one person owning more than 25% of the company.  This is a good idea, but doesn't solve the monopoly problem.  That will still have to be addressed at some point.

[pedro]

Monopolies are generally not good but Belize has a pop of 300.000 -it is impossible to allow another company in as they will have to spend ooo's of millions on hardware which is just not feasible-lets just hope they perform better than Ashcroft which should be a "slam dunk"

[deadserious]

Monopolies are generally not good but Belize has a pop of 300.000 -it is impossible to allow another company in as they will have to spend ooo's of millions on hardware which is just not feasible-lets just hope they perform better than Ashcroft which should be a "slam dunk"

Having the government put a couple of million into a competitive startup in the form of grants combined with long term, low interest loans would have made a competitive venture viable.  I've worked up the numbers as I considered doing just that.  Technology has advanced to the point where you don't need investment in infrastructure you needed previously.  I could serve Placencia, Corozal, Ambergris Caye and Belize City with Telephone, TV and Internet for about a million USD in up front infrastructure costs.  That's a lot of money to invest for a potential portion of only about 30-40k potential customers, but doable if the GOB were to assist up front.  Expansion costs to further population centers would have been minimal in comparison and could be done progressively as revenues come in.

I also figured that we would probably need government protection commitments from the Ashcroft thugs, so between possible nationalization of BTL, upfront startup costs and possible Ashcroft intimidation, I decided against moving forward.

[pedro]

of course you could but what about all the small villages that need telephone service-you cannot just cherry pick as this is also not beneficial to the citizens of Belize

[deadserious]

You can't do 100% coverage over night.  A competitor could grow to do so though.  Nothing technically impossible about it.  Just a matter of time.  And in the meantime, the villages are no worse off than they are today.

Bottom line, the GOB could have handled it differently, I wish they would have, but I hold out hopes that it will be better in spite of their methods.

[deadserious]

Apparently BTL was officially taken over today.  

Can anyone report if Skype has been unblocked yet?

[Chris]

BTL under Lord Ashcroft was actually randomly blocking INCOMING calls from abroad if they used broadband Internet for part or all of their routing. Much anecdotal evidence of this exists. The new owners will hopefully end this dumb s**t practice as, of course, it blocks potential new commerce to Belize and dries up jobs and investment.

[deadserious]

I've noticed that as well.  I use VOIP for my primary phone here in the US and was often only able to call into Belize using my cellphone.

Either way, in or out, I'd love to get confirmation that skype is up and running with no problems.

On my last trip, BTL was also blocking my VPN to my office.  I figure if one is cleared up, the other will be too.

[sdemaio]

Now all the GOB needs to do is nothing. Let whoever buys the shares run the company. The monopoly is gone. ANYONE who wants to compete can. No handouts, no LOANS, just let them compete.

Land lines are obsolete. The only reason I have one is to run my credit card machine. Provide cell phone service for $50BZ a month and you will have 200,000  customers in about 60 days. $10mil a month. Pay for the towers in no time. Provide direct links to US networks for another $50BZ a month, another 10mil, split with the US network, 5mil pure profit.

Provide wireless internet in towns like SP, Corozal, Placencia, ... and you will have thousands of customers.

[deadserious]

Now all the GOB needs to do is nothing. Let whoever buys the shares run the company. The monopoly is gone.

The monopoly remains...  the only thing that has changed is that there will no longer be one majority shareholder.  That is a big difference.

I still believe that Belize needs to work to induce competition in the market so that there is no monopoly.  It can be done using new technologies at a much lower cost than BTL invested to build out their infrastructure.  The problem is that with a limited population and even fewer having the resources to buy services, the cost of infrastructure would still likely have to be subsidized, either through grants or low interest long term loans to be successful.

Until there is true competition, there is nothing guaranteeing that the new BTL owners will continue to do the right thing in the future.

[sdemaio]

No subsidies are needed or desired!

With open telecommunications. direct access to the fiber optic (NOT THRU BTL) call centers, software development, and other types of offshore processing will begin to move in. These are $20BZ per hour jobs with $10BZ hour support jobs.

These companies will bring in their own capital, no need for GOB assistance!

The people who get these jobs, will NOT need assistance to pay for their cell or home communications. They will in fact create a robust economy in their own communities.

These are dollars coming INTO the country! NOT from the GOB. They are REAL, EARNED, and can be SAVED.

One of the best things about Belize is that the central bank can not just CREATE money like the FED.
One of the worst things about Belize is we are tied to the US dollar and every time the FED just created new money, all of ours automatically becomes worth less (worthless).

DO NOT LET THE GOB WORK ON ANYTHING. JUST WAIT AND SEE WHO SHOWS UP TO COMPETE. It does not need to be direct competition with BTL in telecommunications. Just use telecommunications without restrictions or limits from BTL.

[deadserious]

You're points are made so much more valid due to the capitalization of certain words in your post.  That really helps to underscore how right you are about something you apparently know little about.

No subsidies are needed or desired!

If you don't care about bringing in competition, then you are right.  Subsidies are not needed nor desired.

With open telecommunications. direct access to the fiber optic (NOT THRU BTL) call centers, software development, and other types of offshore processing will begin to move in. These are $20BZ per hour jobs with $10BZ hour support jobs.

All access to fiber optic in Belize is (THRU BTL)

Regarding your other points about software development and "other types of offshore processing", they are spacious arguments.  Speaking as the owner of a software development company that heavily utilizes "other types of offshore processing" in my business, I'm very excited about BTL freeing their network from limitations now that it is under government control.  However, that has nothing to do with competition to BTL.  Software development companies do not offer telecommunication services.  BTL offers telecommunication services.  I was not suggesting that there be subsidies for software development companies, but rather for a telecommunication company to offer competing services to BTL's.

These companies will bring in their own capital, no need for GOB assistance!
The people who get these jobs, will NOT need assistance to pay for their cell or home communications. They will in fact create a robust economy in their own communities.

These are dollars coming INTO the country! NOT from the GOB. They are REAL, EARNED, and can be SAVED.

Again, you're very emphatic argument here is wasted as I was not talking about subsidizing software development companies or other companies that might come to Belize now that BTL can fix their network.

One of the best things about Belize is that the central bank can not just CREATE money like the FED.
One of the worst things about Belize is we are tied to the US dollar and every time the FED just created new money, all of ours automatically becomes worth less (worthless).

No one is suggesting that Belize should print their own money.  A discussion of the intelligence in the decision to tie the BZD to the USD can be had another day and not applicable to this discussion.

DO NOT LET THE GOB WORK ON ANYTHING. JUST WAIT AND SEE WHO SHOWS UP TO COMPETE.

uhhhhhh.....  Let me parse this statement for a second...  "Do not let the GOB work on anything."  

hmmmm....

moving on...

It does not need to be direct competition with BTL in telecommunications. Just use telecommunications without restrictions or limits from BTL.

Ok.  Finally we get to something applicable to my prior post.

I'm 100% in agreement that an open BTL network is a good thing and that alone will bring businesses into the country.  However, without competition to BTL providing another open network, there is nothing that will guarantee that BTL's network will remain open.  Remember that back in 1988 when BTL was privitized, it was done so with strict rules that would never permit an Ashcroft to overtake the company.  In 1998 he did anyway. With a strong competitor in 1998, it wouldn't matter as the services he provided would have had to been comparable to that of his competitor or he would have been run out of business.

Competition is required to keep any business honest.  BTL included.  

[clover]

One of the best things about Belize is that the central bank can not just CREATE money like the FED.
One of the worst things about Belize is we are tied to the US dollar and every time the FED just created new money, all of ours automatically becomes worth less (worthless)

Belize needs to float it's currency like the rest of the free world...............then we'll know what it is really worth.  I doubt 2 to 1.

[pedro]

clover

Two of the largest countries in the world have fixed rate currencies-let  them change before you start on Belize

Russia and China for the uninitiated