An assessment will be conducted by the Utilities and Regulation and Competition Authority (URCA) on the sale of the 51 percent shareholding in the Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) to Cable and Wireless Communications (CWC), with several areas to be reviewed before final approval.
The review conducted by the regulatory body will focus on several areas, including how the privatization of BTC will affect competition in the sector.
A statement from URCA said: “As neither of the parties to the transaction nor BTC is involved in broadcasting or publishing newspapers, the question to be determined by URCA is whether the transaction would have or is likely to have the effect of a substantial lessening of competition in a market in The Bahamas. “In assessing the competition effects of the transaction, URCA’s assessment will include the review of issues such as the definition of the relevant market, what would happen in the absence of this transaction (known as the ‘counterfactual’), the potential efficiencies and consumer benefits.”
