Amandala has confirmed from well-placed sources that Belize Telemedia Limited (BTL) gave SpeedNet/SMART four highly favorable contracts back in February 2004, while the Government of Belize – then under the administration of Said Musa – held over 80% shares in BTL, after having bought the 52.45% held by Michael Ashcroft’s Carlisle Holdings.
BTL’s financial reports attest that even though Government owned a supermajority of the shares, Carlisle Holdings remained at the helm, having retained its management position until March 31, 2004, when American investor, Jeff Prosser, then acquired the Carlisle shares, as well as the government shares, including those of the Social Security Board.
It was during this period of transition that the BTL-SpeedNet agreements evolved. While BTL was generous with SpeedNet, it refused interconnection with Intelco, forcing it to go into attrition and resulting in a receivership, with the Royal Bank of Trinidad and Tobago, that same November.
The foreclosure on Intelco eliminated BTL’s first competitor, leaving only SpeedNet and BTL to control the market, resulting in what was later revealed to be pseudo-competition, or controlled competition.
Under the BTL-SpeedNet agreements, the newcomer was able to access BTL’s infrastructure and benefit from a range of concessions that would enable it to offer cheaper services.
One question that has been raised in the public domain is why BTL’s very experienced and business savvy shareholders – the Carlisle group – would have given such favorable agreements to SpeedNet, were it not for a financial interest in the company.
SpeedNet was on record as being the property of the Briceño family. (At the time of the agreements, Leader of the Opposition, Johnny Briceño, was the Deputy Prime Minister, and the deals came several months before the G-7 challenge, in which Briceño and six other then Cabinet members challenged then Prime Minister Said Musa over the management of public finances in the wake of scandals over the use of public funds to settle Intelco bills.)
Accompanying this article is a timeline that we hope will put things into chronological perspective.
Belize has so far not enacted antitrust legislation, which would serve to outlaw contracts or share purchases which have the effect of quashing competition and creating a playing field that is detrimental to consumers.
While Government has taken the view that it will never honor the accommodation agreements the Musa administration signed with BTL starting in late 2005, it has not so far declared its position on the BTL-SpeedNet agreements – only disclosed to the public after the August 25, 2009, government takeover.
(Since BTL is now government-owned, Amandala has requested full disclosure of the agreements from the Government, under the Freedom of Information Act. We’ll keep you posted on any developments.)