Chamber says, “The future of B.T.L. is fraught with uncertainties.”

As we have reported, the Social Security Board is required by government to invest fifty million dollars of pension funds in Telemedia. According to the PM, the prospectus will be released on October fifteenth. The full SSB is yet to meet to decide on whether or not the investment is prudent but the clock is ticking and it looks like the cauldron is boiling over. Earlier today, the Belize Chamber of Commerce and Industry, which has a representative on the SSB, raised a fundamental question about the haste with which it has to make the fifty million dollar decision when it is still not privy to the pertinent information about the share price, the ownership structure or the value of the assets. According to the BCCI, “the future of BTL is fraught with uncertainties which increased the risk to the fund.” The BCCI is asking for a copy of the prospectus, a technical audit of the status of the network, three separate legal opinions on any claim that may impede the profitability of Telemedia. BCCI’s Marketing and Public Relations Manager, Vanessa Peyrefitte, told News Five more about the chamber’s position.

Vanessa Peyrefitte, Marketing/Public Relations Manager, BCCI

vanessa peyrefitte

“The Chamber’s position on the sale of the B.T.L. Shares is pretty simple. It is us asking the government if they can provide us with some basic information that would assist in determining if this is a good decision to make, which is invest public funds into the sale or into the purchasing of shares at B.T.L. At the end of the day this is public funds and you know what has happened in the past with public funds, various instances. So in order to be responsible, there’s this thing called corporate responsibility and I think that’s exactly what the Chamber is doing right now, asking for an audit of the assets, the investment prospectus and other things like that so at the end of the day we can look it and we can say okay yes, we think that this is a good decision to make or there may be some sticking points that need to be addressed. At the end of the day we prefer that this decision to purchase shares in B.T.L. not be a very hasty, quick decision and then at the end of the day maybe in the future there may be things that happen that negatively impact that industry and then it’s not just a private investor’s money that’s affected in that. It’s going to be my money and your money because our tax payers’ dollars go into S.S.B.”

We do note that under existing legislation, there is no restriction on the number of telecoms licenses that can be issued.  So if one large foreign operator took a share of the market, Telemedia’s revenue would reduce and the SSB’s investment would be exposed.  There is also word that government is now considering to go back to the nineteen percent telecommunication tax that, by its own volition, it increased to twenty-four point five percent when Telemedia was privately owned.