Friday, May 15, 2009Bahamas Improves Communications

Betty VedrineBahamas Minister Touts Benefits of Improved Communications Sector

Proposed legislation to upgrade the communications sector will give the Bahamas the competitive edge it needs, Minister of Tourism, Senator Vincent Vanderpool-Wallace said.

“Efficient communications systems are fundamental to a modern society and to modern commerce,” he said.

And, getting the fundamentals right is "vital" to the continued success of the tourism product, he said.

“Just yesterday, we completed our test in the Ministry of Tourism to see what would happen if we restored the proximity advantage of the Bahamas from New York,” said the Minister.

Making a comparison in ticket sales out of New York during May, 2008 when there was no recession to the same period this year during a full recession, Mr Vanderpool-Wallace said that just by focusing on fundamentals, the tourism product was boosted by 150 per cent.

One thousand tickets were sold to the Bahamas out of New York in May last year and 2,604 were sold in May this year.

“We can communicate everything in the world to our prospective customers, but especially in this environment, if we don’t get the fundamentals right, we do not restore our competitive edge,” he said.

Although Bahamians may wonder about the need to liberalize electronic communications, Vanderpool-Wallace said the obvious answer is that monopolies do not always provide the best service.

“Monopolies or near monopolies tend to care little about costs because if you want the service you take what I have and you pay what I require," he said. "That’s how they make a profit.”

The Family Islands, in particular, would finally be able to reach their full economic potential as a result of improved communications, he said.

“It has been said that the development of the Family Islands will come only when we solve the transportation, distribution and communication issues,” he said.

“Whenever anyone on our Family Islands can get in and out inexpensively and frequently...and when they can send or receive any kind of electronic communication with high reliability and low cost, we will see the kind of growth that we have been expecting of those islands for more than a decade."

The proposed amendments "promise to deliver on the communication piece of this triangle.”

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