Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) is reporting that it has exceeded most of its revenue targets set in the company’s 2020 budget, while the others have been met, in spite of the challenges caused by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

BTC Chief Executive Officer, Gary Sinclair, who conveyed the good news emphasised that the company has done better than it thought it would have in the midst of the global pandemic even though the 2020 budget was adjusted as a result of COVID-19.

Beaming with much confidence, Sinclair predicted that BTC will meet the financial targets set for 2021 as well, as the company eyes improved cash flow in next year.

Sinclair admitted that BTC was adversely impacted by COVID 19, where from the outset of the pandemic the company started to witness a dip in sales and bill payments.

This was due to the lockdowns designed to stem the spread of the virus compounded by the virtual shut down of the tourism sector, which caused a hit on BTC business-to-business portfolio.

Business-to-business portfolio hit hard

According to Sinclair, “we took a hit on our business-to-business portfolio with respect to the hospitality segment of it, but we took a hit in the small and medium businesses portion of it as well, amongst a bunch of other enterprises that were adversely affected.”

The BTC CEO conceded that as government’s COVID-19 protocols loosened, the telecoms company began to reach its budget targets and regain ground lost in the early days of the pandemic.

Having seen the impact of COVID 19, Sinclair pointed out that BTC fashioned a post pandemic budget in April for the rest of the year. This was done based on the initial impact that the management of BTC saw coming from the fallout caused by COVID 19.

Given the COVID 19 management strategies rolled out, “we have managed to beat all of those budgets,” Sinclair said.

He added that BTC has done much better than expected considering that the Bahamian economy was hit hard with intermittent and sometimes really drawn-out lockdown periods, resulting in severe dislocations.

He pointed out that many of the monthly projections made subsequent to April have been holding firm and in some cases exceeded projections. Sinclair credited the positive results to a combination of resilient and growing government business, the resurgence of bill payments thanks to increased outlets and digital options.

Financial services and Bahamian Government to the rescue

He also credited the resilience of the financial services industry and the need to expand its digital capacity during the pandemic to the performance exhibited by BTC.

The BTC boss boasted about the growth in its post-paid plans and the return of pre-paid plans and a more efficient operating model for the company.

Sinclair was appreciative of the government of The Bahamas, which he said has continued not only to pay its bills, but to purchase additional service.

“So we got some really good bounce back from the government,” Sinclair asserted.

He noted that the company has seen increased business from the financial services sector, where their customers have had to migrate to a more online, digital-based business through more digital channels.

Sinclair stated that the financial services sector has ordered additional capacity, internet and broadband connectivity capacity, given the migration to the digital platform.