The Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) yesterday announced that it will add minutes, data or talk time to the accounts of each of its customers following the mass interruption that crippled the company’s landline, cell and broadband services Monday.
BTC called the comprehensive package a “goodwill gesture.”
“Even as we continue to uncover the cause of Monday’s failure, the company moved very quickly to come up with this package, which contains something for everyone because we understood the magnitude of what happened and how it affected everyone in The Bahamas,” said Marlon Johnson, Vice President Brand and Channels.
Cost of the goodwill package could be close $3 million, Johnson said.
Beginning 12:01 am Saturday, June 23 until 7:00 a.m. Monday, June 25, prepaid customers will receive $5 in free credit.
In addition, all weekend long prepaid customers will be able to call anywhere in The Bahamas for $0.05 per minute – a 75 per cent discount over the normal weekend rate.
Pre-paid customers with data packages for smart phones or devices such as BlackBerrys, Androids (Samsung), iPhones or iPads have already received two free days that were added on to their seven-day or 30-day package.
Postpaid customers will get an entire weekend of domestic calls free between midnight Friday and Monday at 7:00 a.m.
Data and landline customers will receive a $5 credit on their July bill.
According to Mr. Johnson, the average data customer uses about $1.60 a day, making the credit more than three times the normal daily use.
Benefits apply to those individuals who were active subscribers, basically those who showed activity on their account between 7:00 a.m. on June 4 and midnight on June 18.
“This goodwill gesture is one way of expressing our continued commitment to customer care,” said CEO Geoff Houston.
“We realise how this affected nearly every single person, business, facility and institution in The Bahamas. We know how frustrating it was and that is why we have said we are leaving no stone unturned in getting to the bottom of this. Right now our focus is on making sure that people know we care and are doing this to demonstrate that respect.”
Mr. Houston said today’s gesture was in response to Monday’s outage only and the company would continue to discuss ways to show appreciation for customers’ patience during technology upgrades over the past three weeks.
