Last year BTL had 18 million reasons to be thankful to their customers because after paying their bills, the telephone monopoly took home a cool $18 million in net profit. And while its ownership hangs in the balance, BTL is clearly Belize's most profitable company. And so today the green machine held a customer appreciation day at all its branch offices to give thanks. Public Relations Officer Lynette Canto says BTL's success is owed to the customers and they are just simply giving back.
Lynette Canto, BTL Public Relations
"We are today giving back to our valued customers and that is why you see so many people in line behind me. People are here to take advantage of the special discount and promotions we have going on. For example we have the 25% off deal on all prepaid cards, we have the latest Nokia going for $199, as well as people signing up for our high speed internet service, DSL, will be able to get the modem free and get half off the installation fee. So that is why people are here today to take advantage of those."
Keith Swift,
Now by the time this newscast airs these deals would be gone right?
Lynette Canto,
"Yes it will be gone but that does not mean that BTL will not continue to look at ways of making our customers happy."
Keith Swift,
So really, how much does BTL appreciate their customers?
Lynette Canto,
"Well our customers are our hub. They are why we exist. We are committed to making sure that telecommunication services expand throughout the country; that is our main focus at this time. That is one of the goals we are working towards and so as I said our customers are very valuable to us."
This evening BTL is holding a customer appreciation reception for its business customers at the Radisson.
And how much does BTL appreciate its customers? Well not enough to give rebates for their network failure last weekend. That's right, while the company's chief of network operations Ernesto Torres said on Monday that they would consider rebates for customers who suffered throughout the weekend with no internet or email, today Managing Director John Vondras said they have considered it and there will be no rebates. Vondras explained that like a hurricane, the network failure was beyond their control. To which we will add the riposte that a hurricane is a natural disaster, but not having a communication's backup, well that's just poor corporate planning. Vondras says the company has yet to calculate how costly the network failure will prove to be.