Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) executives are seeking to significantly increase revenues generated from the company’s data-related services.
Yesterday, the telecommunications company began offering its customers Apple iPhones with an annual data plan that includes voice, data and text.
“It is part of our strategy – looking at expanding our customer base and loyalty,” said Jerome Sawyer, BTC’s senior public relations manager, of the new offerings by BTC.
“For instance, with the iPhone, it requires a 12-month contract. A lot of our data packages require contracts and that is because we are building consistent revenue from our customers.”
BTC has made several adjustments to its network in order to address increased demand for new services.
“As apart of our upgrade, we’ve been able to increase our data capacity by about 400 percent and what we have found since upgrading our network, every time we expand, the capacity increases as well as the demand increases,” Sawyer said.
“In essence, we have had to upgrade the network three times in this year alone to accommodate the growth and demand for data.”
BTC is offering the latest iPhones available in the region, according to the company.
“Apple has only released the iPhone 5 in limited jurisdictions,” Sawyer noted, “none of which are in Latin America and the Caribbean.
“The iPhone and other smartphones are changing the way we live with multiple apps that can be tailored to fit our lifestyles, no matter where that might be in The Bahamas.”
The new plans range in size and price, including plans that cost $41, $66, $82, $127, or pay as you go (prepaid).
Sawyer warned that under BTC’s agreement with Apple, the company will not activate iPhones that are not purchased from the BTC store.
By Scieska Adderley
Guardian Business Reporter
