As The Bahamas Telecommunications Company braces itself for the arrival of competition in the cellular market next year, the company’s focus has become to regain the trust of its customers, newly appointed CEO Leon Williams has said.

Mr. Williams, who appeared as a guest on Jones and Company Sunday, admitted that BTC is not currently well positioned for competition in the cellular phone market.

“We have lost the trust of the Bahamian people and we have to find some way of getting that back,” Mr. Williams said.

The cellular market is expected to open up next year and Mr. Williams predicts that BTC could possibly lose at least a third of its market share as a result, he said it will need to be determined whether BTC will try to grow the market or fight for greater market share.

“The question is what value BTC is going to bring to the customer that will get the customer to stay with them and what value is the new entrant going to bring to the customer and cause the customer to say if I keep my phone with BTC I can do this, but if I go over to the new fellow, I won’t be able to do this,” Mr. Williams explained.

Mr. Williams, who is now completing his first month back at the helm of the telecoms giant, said his first order of business is bringing organisational structure to the company as well as addressing technical challenges, particularly as it relates to drop cellular calls.

“Right now as we speak, 40 per cent of the cellular customers are on a 3 and 4 Generation Network, 60 per cent are on the old 2 Generation Network,” he said. “Monies have been spent, but it has not been sufficient to provide the migration from the 2G Network to the 4G Network.”

Overall, the CEO maintained that BTC’s finances remain strong and he expressed confidence that the company will be able to maintain its dominance amid pending competition.