{"id":36872,"date":"2013-06-26T09:09:36","date_gmt":"2013-06-26T13:09:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/?p=36872"},"modified":"2013-06-26T09:09:36","modified_gmt":"2013-06-26T13:09:36","slug":"cable-bahamas-blasts-btc-on-roaming-call-block","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/2013\/06\/cable-bahamas-blasts-btc-on-roaming-call-block","title":{"rendered":"Cable Bahamas Blasts BTC On Roaming Call ‘Block’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Cable Bahamas has urged regulators to intervene in its long-running dispute over the Bahamas Telecommunications Company\u2019s (BTC) alleged \u2018blocking\u2019 of calls to international mobile roaming customers, demanding that it provide call termination on a \u201ccost oriented basis\u201d.<\/p>\n

Responding to a Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority (URCA) call termination consultation, the BISX-listed communications provider alleged that<\/p>\n

BTC had either blocked calls from its network to international mobile users, or \u201cproposed excessive rates\u201d to terminate the calls on its cellular system.<\/p>\n

This, Cable Bahamas argued, went against the newly-privatised carrier\u2019s wholesaler interconnection service obligations.<\/p>\n

And, not done yet, Cable Bahamas also urged URCA to differentiate between call termination (interconnection) fees and transit fees.<\/p>\n

BTC charges both, with the latter applying to calls from other carriers that it has to carry on its network prior to reaching the intended customer.<\/p>\n

Cable Bahamas is arguing that BTC\u2019s transit fees, levied on itself and other rivals to the incumbent, are \u201cclearly excessive\u201d given that they are much higher than its interconnection\/call termination fees.<\/p>\n

Urging URCA to clarify that cellular\/mobile call termination includes calls made to international roaming customers via BTC\u2019s network, Cable Bahamas alleged that efforts to negotiate a commercial agreement on the issue had failed.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs URCA is likely aware, Cable Bahamas (via its affiliate Systems Resource Group) has been involved in a lengthy dispute with BTC regarding the termination of calls to roaming mobile customers on BTC\u2019s mobile network and, to date, has been unable to reach a commercial agreement with BTC to terminate such roaming mobile traffic,\u201d the BISX-listed company said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn effect, BTC has refused to supply call termination services to roaming customers despite the fact it is required to do so under its wholesale interconnection service obligations.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the context of its decision in this proceeding, Cable Bahamas submits that URCA should confirm that mobile termination services do, in fact, include calls to all mobile numbers, including roaming mobile customers on BTC\u2019s mobile network, and direct BTC to provide the service on an economic, cost oriented basis.\u201d<\/p>\n

Suggesting that BTC, as the incumbent, had \u201ca strong incentive\u201d to refuse to supply services to rival operators to protect its \u201cdominant market position\u201d, Cable Bahamas argued that the mobile roaming call termination situation illustrated the point.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe incentive to refuse supply in the case of the incumbent is illustrated by Cable Bahamas\u2019 ongoing dispute with BTC to terminate call traffic to roaming mobile customers on BTC\u2019s network,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n

By Neil Hartnell<\/span><\/em>
\nTribune Business Editor<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Original News Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cable Bahamas has urged regulators to intervene in its long-running dispute with the Bahamas Telecommunications Company\u2019s (BTC) alleged \u2018blocking\u2019 of calls to international mobile roaming customers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_10223285771444175_51037792744":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[36,216,1817],"class_list":["post-36872","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business","tag-btc","tag-cable-bahamas","tag-roaming-calls"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36872","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36872"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36872\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36872"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36872"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36872"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}