BTL Claims Speednet Acquisition Would Boost Efficiency

After that stark warning from BTL’s chairman that ‘something will have to give’ if the company can’t boost efficiency, we pushed for more clarity on the numbers behind the proposed merger. We asked what kind of cash‑flow gains BTL expects if it absorbs its main competitor, Speednet. Chairman Mark Lizarraga didn’t offer a dollar figure, but he did insist the advantage lies in BTL’s existing capacity. He says the company could take on Speednet’s customers with minimal new costs, creating savings that, according to him, would help protect prices, safeguard jobs, and keep Belize competitive in the digital market.

 

Mark Lizarraga, Chairman, Belize Telemedia Limited

“I can say that the increase – you see, remember we have the capacity already. So we could take all their customers and put it on our system at virtually very little increase in cost. So imagine all the savings you would have from that, right? That’s where this thing becomes attractive to the consumers and the shareholders and to the company and to the workers of our company – being efficient without raising prices. That’s what we’re trying to do and keep our country in this technological race, right. Remember we have – you know how many people depend on our services for employment? Everybody connecting now for employment, including the BPOs. Nobody could live without data. Nobody could live without internet services. You wanna run round all over town the talk to people because you have to go talk to somebody or because yo have to go do? No, you do it online now.  You know that makes our country efficient and we are able to achieve more economically because of the services that we provide.”

 

So that’s the chairman’s pitch tonight, BTL says it has the capacity to absorb Speednet’s customers with almost no added cost, and that the savings would help keep prices steady, protect jobs, and strengthen Belize’s digital edge. But without firm numbers on the table, questions about the true financial impact of the merger still remain.