The Bahamas Telecom-munications Company will be in a position to reduce the cost of telephone calls to Haiti next year under a new deal with Teleco de Haiti.
The agreement between the two state-run phone companies includes the establishment of a fibre optic submarine cable network connecting Matthew Town, Inagua to Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince, said Bahamas Ambassador to Haiti, Dr Eugene Newry.
Fresh from talks in Haiti on the deal, Mr Newry arrived in Nassau on Tuesday where he was interviewed by The Guardian. He and BTC executives were in Haiti for several days discussing the details of the accord with representatives of Teleco de Haiti. Mr Newry described the agreement as an historical one of great economic significance.
“It represents the first time in the history of not just The Bahamas but the whole of the CARICOM region that we actually have a business being established between two major government corporations,” he said. Minister of Works and Utilities, Bradley Roberts first announced agreement on Aug. 25 at a reception at Buena Vista Restaurant for visiting Haitian Foreign Minister, Herard Abraham. “I am looking forward to the very near future when BTC and Teleco de Haiti would have finished the installation, that my Prime Minister Perry Christie could make the first telephone call to the Prime Minister of Haiti over this new network,” said Mr Roberts.
The utilities minister further noted that with the large Haitian and Haitian descendant population living in The Bahamas, it was only fitting that BTC had sought to enhance the telecommunication systems between the two countries and reduce the cost to residents. The 10-gigabyte fibre optic submarine cable is expected to cost approximately $6 million.
By: MINDELL SMALL, The Nassau Guardian
