Jules, thanks for that update on where things stand right now, and for context on the day's events, we turn to this morning's extraordinary press conference called by the Chairman of BTL. Jules was there:
He stood, he sat, he laughed, he frowned, he scolded, Chairman Mark Lizarraga held forth in the BTL boardroom as he tried to sashay through the media's onslaught like a hot knife through butter. After months of avoiding the issue - the BTL chairman took on all questions in an hour long press encounter.
He says the proposed acquisition of four telephone and cable companies is because the market is saturated with competitive excess:
Markhelm Lizarraqa, BTL Chairman
"What has happened is that the industry has over capitalized and has beocme inefficient as a result of that really, because its wasted resources - and who pays for all this over capitalization and this duplication of resources? Its the consumer."
"So the whole move from way back in 2018 was to see how we could consolidate and become more efficient as an industry and we see revenues really flatlining. The population in Belize is not exploding."
Sounds like a regulatory problem to us but Lizarraga says it's an obligation to the public owners:
Markhelm Lizarraqga, BTL Chairman
"If we continue along this path of inefficiency in the industry, the people and government of Belize and the workers of Belize through the social security board will not receive the return of investment that they should have in a logical timeframe."
Ands so he was here to explain to the press the commercial logic of buying a struggling phone company and three cable companies in 2025:
Markhelm Lizarraqga, BTL Chairman
"But because some poeple in the press have access to information that is not always accurate, we thought it best to try and bring you the real facts today, the process continues and when that process comes to an end we will be coming back to you all."
But the problem with this acquisition is the many overt conflicts of interest:
Jules Vasquez -
"So, sir, how do you divorce yourself from the inherent, implicit, intrinsic conflict of interest in the fact that your brother, no discredit to him, is the owner of CTI or NextGen, as also the part owner of Southern Cable Network. And these two companies I expect in this package will net him at least $60 million dollars from the sale. You have been at the forefront of this and how do you escape that ineluctable conflict that you've been negotiating with your brother on one side and the man who appointed you to the board, his family, Jaime Briceno, on the other side?"
Markhelm Lizarraqga, BTL Chairman
"Let me answer you in this way. One of the first things we did when we came to BTL was we put in a conflict of interest policy. As well, you will know, we put in, I shouldn't be telling you this, you know this already, we put in the small shareholder as the chairperson for the internal audit subcommittee of the board. That chairperson reports directly to the board, not to the CEO or not to the chairman as was once the practice.So we've tried to separate that. When the conversations became serious this time around, I declared my potential conflict, the perception of conflict. We have a declaration form that the company has whenever we're in these positions. Directors have used it in the past when they perceived conflict situations. And I'll be honest with you, my position when it comes to the board will be that I will have to recuse myself."
And that didn't sit well with some directors - who felt Lizarraga left them to hold a very questionable bag. And that board meeting was set to start right after this press conference - where a handful of directors could make decisions that would define the telecoms future of Belize.
Markhelm Lizarraqga, BTL Chairman
"We've called a board meeting. We're going to continue with the presentations today and then the board will decide how it moves forward."
