Today was World Telecom Day which basically means a chance for BTL to show off all its corporate largesse and technical finesse. And that's just what the green machine did at an open day at the City Center. Gone from national shutdown three weeks ago to showoff at this morning's event, BTL's Public Relations Manager Suzette Tillet told us that they are displaying cutting edge technology in a number of areas.
Suzette Tillet, BTL P.R. Manager
"What we have here today is a display of BTL's product and services in the form of our wireline services, our wireless services, our internet service, and our future services. In terms of our cellular service we have a lot of things coming online which is the Hotspots, which is one of the things where you'll be able to get stuff from the internet on your cell phone, it also will include MMS which includes multimedia where you can send a picture and you can send a song; things like that we can see in our future services."
Jules Vasquez,
How hard has it been to bring BTL from a point of national shutdown to now where from all outward appearances, the situation is normalized?
Gaspar Aguilar, BTL Chief Executive Officer
"It has been difficult in the sense that we needed to get everybody back together as a team and I believe the advantage that I have is that fundamentally all of the employees, I would say, are committed and they love the company."
And while he's happy to have his staff back on the job, CEO Gaspar Aguilar said the national shutdown has left the company with some un-recoverable losses. How much? The Chief Financial Officer gave us the details.
Gaspar Aguilar,
"Its approximately $1.2 million. We were fortunate enough to submit a claim to our insurance people so I believe, today from what I know, it would be around $1.2 million. Indications are, from what they told me, we would be able to recover especially the expenses incurred to restore so that reduces..."
Jules Vasquez,
In terms of the fiber optic and the plant equipment?
Gaspar Aguilar,
"Exactly. The business interruption, the revenue side of it, there isn't much coverage there so that is why the net loss after insurance I figure would be $1.2 million."
Aguilar also discussed the general state of the company which is Belize's most profitable, but also its most embattled. Presently the company's board of directors is in a four-four deadlock and decision-making has to come from management which is hamstrung by clear policy directions.
Gaspar Aguilar,
"How I deal with it is, like the employees, I am professionally committed. I do my best to lead and direct for plans that we already have in place and thought about from a year ago. And really what's holding us back is the absence of a board that would approve major expenditure in expansions or improving certain services that we would like to implement."
Jules Vasquez,
If and when one of these large groups come in, particularly the Carlisle Group, do you fear you'll be fired?
Gaspar Aguilar,
"A day at a time Jules. I wont' speculate on that. Like I said I love what I do, I try to be professional, and what comes comes; one day at a time."
As Jules noted, Aguilar has particularly to worry about the Carlisle Group because in an affidavit to the Supreme Court, Aguilar noted that the Carlisle Group had extracted $10.4 million in management fees between 2001 and 2004. And when Carlisle sold out to Prosser, BTL had to pay Carlisle another $2.4 million as damages for termination of the management contract, and another $640,000 for a management extension contract from April to June of 2004. Additionally, as Chief Financial Officer, the Carlisle bosses instructed Aguilar to pay $6.4 million in advisory expenses and legal fees.
