PM Says Consultations Ongoing on Proposed BTL Acquisition

Prime Minister John Briceño has confirmed that stakeholder consultations are currently underway regarding the proposed Belize Telemedia Limited (BTL) acquisition, involving BTL and several relevant agencies, as the government continues its review of the transaction. Speaking with the media, the Prime Minister said he is not opposed to the acquisition, stressing that the matter is still under discussion and that several mistruths are circulating publicly about the proposed deal. He emphasized that consultations are part of ensuring the process is properly understood and responsibly managed.

John Briceño, Prime Minister of Belize: “I think there’s a process. We should allow the process to work. We need to appreciate that this is in spite of the fact that BTL is owned by the government and Social Security, majority, as we have a lot of smart shareholders. I think we should allow BTL to do a business decision. They need to do what they believe is the best interest and the board members have a fiduciary responsibility to BTL. And if they believe that the decision that BTL making is a good one they should support it. If it’s a bad one, they should say no. But again, BTL is going through a process, they’re meeting with different sectors, explaining because a lot of times, I think what happened is that when the announcement was made, which is a process you announce and then you go and talk to people, there was a lot of uncertainty or people weren’t sure what was happening. And now they have started the process of meeting. I know they’ve met with members of the Chamber and the Business Bureau. They’ve met with Social Security and the plan is that they’ll come to carry it on Tuesday to give us a full briefing. But it is not a matter of consolidation. Our responsibility is to ensure that BTL can be as profitable as possible. But at the same time, we have to ensure that the consumers are protected at all times, that they are not price-gouged and that they give the best service possible. Technology changes so it’s a lot of investment that has to take place to be able to keep up. And that is where the Public Utilities Commission comes in. In my discussion with Minister Chebat he said that the PUC is already working in setting up an SI whereby he will sign probably next week whereby they are saying that there will be no rate increase for the next twelve months in the telecom industry with or without any consolidation. Whilst I think now more than ever they start to realize that probably we need to start to put some regulations in that industry, in that sector the same way you have it in the water and energy sectors.”

Reporter: And we see that as many as three ministers have already spoken about this should have went to public consultation so what are your thoughts on that ? 
John Briceño, Prime Minister of Belize: ‘Well the public consultation that we’re talking, which is what they’re doing right now they have started to meet with the public. By public they don’t mean that you have public meetings per se but you’re meeting stakeholders within different groups talking to them so that they can explain what it is that the’ll do and they will come with it and we will listen and see what we decide to do .”