…while new competitor begins cellular service

While suitors, new and old, fought over its affections, today B.T.L.’s DigiCell got a “Smart” competitor. That’s the name of the newest service to throw its hat into the telecommunications ring. Smart, offshoot of Speednet Communications Limited, today held its soft launch. With its interconnection agreement with Belize Telecommunications Limited now in operation, this afternoon Speednet executives tested their service with B.T.L. subscribers and introduced the local media to its handset models. According to the company, current coverage areas include Belize City, Orange Walk, the Corozal Free Zone, Benque Viejo, the cayes and certain sections of the major highways, but cellular service is expected to include the south, west and the rest of the north by month’s end. Future plans include national service in fixed lines, international calling and internet packages. According to Speednet’s chairman Jaime Briceño, the only thing left to be determined is the price of Speednet’s calls.

Jaime Briceño, Chairman, Speednet Communications Limited
?It certainly will be cheaper. Janelle, we have to be cheaper in order to compete with BTL. I?m not in a position to give you actual numbers right now. We are still working on that finalising that before we send that off to the PUC. But I can assure you that you all will be pleasantly surprised.?

Janelle Chanona
?We?ve all been here before with Intelco you know. You called the number the phone rang and they said, we?re in business. What do you say to the consumers out there who might be saying it?s déjà vú all over again??

Edward Santiago, CEO, Speednet
?It?s very simple. You can call BTL from our phones and vice a versa. You never could do that with Intelco.?

Jaime Briceño
?It?s been quite a while since we?ve been working with BTL; changes with management have impacted on the relationships that we?ve had. But I think at the end of the day you are bound to have some difficulties especially when you are dealing with your competitors, and of course. But I would say that as of now, with the management that we?ve worked with that BTL right now, we?ve found them very cooperative and we?re looking forward to working with them.?

Janelle Chanona
?How were you all able to reach an interconnection agreement? Was it a compromise or were you all able to meet–your position and their position–in the middle??

Jaime Briceño
?We signed originally last year with the new management that came in. They asked to revise some of the rates and we went through it and we worked it out through our business plan and we arrived at compromise figure that that they were happy with and that we could work with. Since then we?ve been working on a number of technical issues; we resolved them and we?re, both sides, are at a point where we can launch the service now.?

While the company has yet to announce what calls from Speednet to Speednet phones will cost, a call from a B.T.L. line to a Speednet phone will be at regular B.T.L. rates. For example, fifty-five cents a minute from a hard line to a post paid cellular phone. The Smart service will use CDMA technology rather than the GSM of the B.T.L system. Speednet says this will translate into better coverage but also means you will not be able to put B.T.L. SIM cards into Speednet phones. Speednet says it already has five thousand customers who have subscribed to its service packages and claims to have invested close to twenty million dollars.