Nestor Vasquez, Chairman - BTL
"Our strategy for the past 5 years has been about making BTL a better company which provides a better future for Belize and for its shareholders."

Jules Vasquez reporting
Those shareholders got a smaller dividend this year though - and that is based on a downturn in profits - 1.4 million less from 21 million to 19.6 million - comparable to pre nationalization figures:

Nestor Vasquez, Chairman - BTL
"The profit of 19.6 million is almost the same as the profit of the former owners of BTL, what they reported 5 years ago. They reported a profit of 19.8; we reported 19.6. But the figures show that the rates they were charging at that time were more than triple what BTL has been charging to its customers today."

Anwar Barrow, Chairman - BTL Executive Committee
"You've gotten "per second billing." You've gotten "VOIP" which has open up an entire world to the Belizean consumers. You've gotten broadband rates being slashed in half again and now again in October and that will continue to happen. We have been evolving and consumers have benefitted tremendously."

And that is owing as much to changing global market conditions as it is to the duty of a national provider:

Nestor Vasquez, Chairman - BTL
"Nationalization means more than just making profits; it means bettering the company for it to assist the economy."

And while that is a convenient explanation, don't be mistaken these executives are concerned about reduced profits - and in an unusually revealing and candid presentation, Executive Committee Chairman Anwar Barrow said BTL is at a crossroads:

Anwar Barrow, Chairman - BTL Executive Committee
"If we sit down and we do nothing and we don't make the investments that we need to make, and we don't make the cultural changes that we need to make at the company, this is what it looks like: By 2018, thereabouts, we'll be looking at 11 or 12 million dollars in profits if we just sit back and do nothing. So BTL is profitable and relevant today, but in order to stay that way we have to transformed the company."

And transforming means investing tens of millions in expanded infrastructure to, first, create new internet customers:

Anwar Barrow, Chairman - BTL Executive Committee
"And we plan to double our broadband customer base within the next two to three years. That is going to represent about six million dollars in additional revenues."

And the company is looking for even more than that by taking mobile phone customers from SMART:

Anwar Barrow, Chairman - BTL Executive Committee
"Our competitor which has evolved over the last 10 years has taken a portion of that market share and we intend to take back a portion of that market share and add about 10,000 customers over the next two years to our mobile subscriber base which should represent about 7 million dollars in up line revenue. So between those initiatives you are looking at about 13 million dollars in additional revenue and that will allow us to return the company to a twenty plus million dollar a year net income after this two year transformation exercise."

But, that's two years away, right now the company will have to invest - which means a further downturn in profits:

Anwar Barrow, Chairman - BTL Executive Committee
"In the near term our net income is anticipated to be reduced given those 54:00 investments."

Jules Vasquez
"Are you concern that it will create a scare among the shareholders to see that after 2010, in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016 the net profit will be on a downward trend?"

Anwar Barrow, Chairman - BTL Executive Committee
"No, because that is why we are preparing and explaining what our plan is. In order to make money and to grow your company you have to invest."

Investing in a future where Barrow says everything will change:

Anwar Barrow, Chairman - BTL Executive Committee
"I'll share something with you in ten years, voice is going to be free, you are only going to be paying for data, so we are going to shift where now we are paying for minutes to talk to where you pay for data and voice and data are going to converge. The voice portion is not going to be charged. You're competing with the vibers with the skypes with the whatapps and all the over the top players, so the market us becoming extremely competitive and it's no longer a legacy market like it used to be before."

And in this gambit the young Barrow is also trying to make his own legacy:

Anwar Barrow, Chairman - BTL Executive Committee
"I feel that we are off to a good start, but the proof is in the pudding and as people may know I am man who delivers, so let's see what I deliver."

But according to the latest survey of bandwidth speeds in the Caribbean, BTL and Internet Service Providers in Belize are not delivering internet speeds comparable to those in the region. Later on we'll ask Executive Committee Chairman Barrow about that.