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Since Wednesday, there has been a partial blackout of Smart cell phone service between Belize City and Ladyville. That is because on Wednesday, BTL disconnected Smart from the circuits on two of its towers – one at its Ladyville tower and the other from the Benny’s tower. Smart says the disconnections were illegal but BTL says the connections were illegal. BTL’s Head of Marketing and Business Dionne Miranda told us that Smart was connected to those circuits without the knowledge of BTL because in August of 2008 – Smart asked to be disconnected.

Dionne Miranda, Head of Marketing and Business – BTL
“In August of 2008 they requested that E-1 be terminated. We only found out that there was an illegal connection to Smart which they haven’t paid for, for several years which we did disconnect. We are not here to provide service for somebody else so that they can make money off of us.”

Keith Swift,
“When were they disconnected?”

Dionne Miranda,
“That was disconnected on Wednesday and that is why customers are saying that they don’t have service between Ladyville and the Haulover Bridge.”

Keith Swift,
“So you guys on Wednesday disconnected an illegal connection?”

Dionne Miranda,
“Yes or one that was created under the table that we did not know about, it is not in our billing system.”

Keith Swift,
“And this was giving them service…..”

Dionne Miranda,
“From Ladyville to Haulover Bridge.”

Keith Swift,
“And more than a year ago, they told BTL to cut it off.”

Dionne Miranda,
“They did but they had already had an alternative solution in place already that we weren’t aware of from a billing or management perspective. The reality is that if there was an illegal BEL connection at your house Keith, trust me it would have been taken out and you would have had to go back in and apply for it the legal way and that is all we want.”

Smart’s Public Relations Officer Ian Courtenay told us this evening that service has been partially restored between Ladyville and Belize City with the use of repeaters. He says Smart is researching its legal options.

But the battle doesn’t end there because as we told you last night – BTL says that on Sunday, Smart installed a satellite dish on the roof of a building at its Saint Thomas Street compound with authorization. Miranda says it was a security breach.

Dionne Miranda,
“I wouldn’t call it sabotage Keith. When somebody illegally goes up on top of your rooftop, installs their own equipment without permission, access, authorization so that they can terminate their services, despite the fact that in the public media they said that they will reconnect their customers without the use of BTL services, if you remember that very clearly, that they actually had to use our rooftop to go and place their equipment and then not let us know that this had occurred. We actually found this equipment while we were doing our regular inspections and we took it down and we did the decent thing and returned the equipment back to them.

We have proof that a Smart employee entered our compound and did it. I have to accept that it is a breach of our security but we have put the necessary steps in place to ensure that this doesn’t happen again. But it is unfair for any one within the Belizean public to look at a company, just because they are large, and think that it is okay for them to subsidize the services of another company at their own expense. It is unfair the rates and the agreements that were put in place for Speednet and we need to take that seriously.

We cannot allow that to happen. BTL is a Belizean institution. 504 Belizean employees work here and look at it for their sustenance and their livelihood and we are expecting that they would give away the services so that Smart can be profitable and we cannot gain our just revenues. It is unfair statement.

This isn’t political at all, this is business and this is doing business right. Competition isn’t a bad thing. It is necessary for us to have fair competition, levelled playing field, we respect each other. If I am going to provide you with service that you provide me with the fair compensation for it and that is the reality. We want to come to the table, want Speednet to come forward and accept at least to look at our proposals so we can offer them the solution that they need.”

As we told you last night – the PUC has ordered both BTL and Smart to draft a new agreement for the rental of the E-1 internet access or else – the PUC will dictate the terms.