Two new cellular licenses to be issued

By CANDIA DAMES, Guardian News Editor On the first anniversary of the sale of the majority interest in the Bahamas Telecommuni-cations Company, the process for licensing two new cellular phone operators will be started, the committee overseeing the BTC privatization process revealed yesterday. In the House of Assembly last week, Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham announced the government's intention to liberalize fixed line services immediately on the completion of the sale of 51 percent of its interest in BTC and liberalize cellular services a year later. "We are seeking to liberalize the telecoms sector in The Bahamas in the shortest possible time, in the full knowledge that we are behind everybody else in our region," Ingraham said at the time. The privatization negotiating committee, which has established a process of public... [read full story]