Bahamas Telecommunications Company vice chairman Valentine Grimes said a portion of the cash raised by parent company Liberty Latin America in its recent tower deal, could be used to deploy 5G in the Bahamas.
The vice chairman told the Tribune, that the intent of the Bahamian government and its current administration to take some of the US$407 million raised from Phoenix Tower International (PTI), could be used to upgrade BTC’s network and ascend to 5G.
The deal with PTI reportedly involves 345 towers from BTC and also includes towers in the British Virgin Islands and Barbados.
Head of the Bahamas Communications and Public Officers Union, Sherry Benjamin, criticised the deal, telling the Tribune: “We already got a bad deal with the sale to Cable & Wireless Communications (CWC) in the first place. That was a horrible deal.
“This deal they’ve entered into: is it going to further sink us or pull us out of the hole we are in? I think the Bahamas, the Bahamian people, need some answers to that. We sold a cash cow and are not even getting whole milk. We are getting treated milk; milk mixed with something else. We need to get whole milk from the cow.”
