Will INTELCO give up part of its exclusive contract with government To BTL in exchange for interconnection? Well the company might have to because three months, 6 thousand customers, and $4.5 million, there is still no interconnection between BTL and INTELCO. And because of that the phone company says its hemorrhaging $55,000 a day in operational costs. Since its launch, INTELCO Chairman Glen Godfrey says they have lost about $1.5 million per month.
At a press conference this morning, Godfrey admitted that three months after start-up, the company is still not financially viable and if it means interconnection, INTELCO would be willing to re-negotiate its lucrative contract with GOB
Godfrey says that if interconnection doesn't come sooner than later, INTELCO will take BTL to court. It's a process which he says could take from 6 months to a year. Though they are not connecting with BTL, INTELCO already services 80% of the country currently thanks to interconnection with the Belize Electricity Limited. It is a mutually beneficial agreement as INTELCO uses BEL's network of lampposts to connect its fiber optic cables. BEL benefits because it uses the fiber optic cables to network its offices and generating stations.
The agreement was inked at a signing ceremony this morning at INTELCO's Headquarters in Ladyville. BEL President Lyn young signed on their behalf and INTELCO Chairman Glen Godfrey did the bidding for his company. There is no transfer of money in the agreement; it's technology barter. BTL also uses a fiber optic network but its lines run underground.