By VERNON CLEMENT JONES, Guardian Business Editor, vernon@nasguard.com

Cable Bahamas would like to see the government liberalize the entire telecommunications industry in one fell swoop when it privatizes BTC, a sweeping step that would allow the service provider to vie for that end of the business now closed to it.

"It would be better to liberalize the industry of telecommunications, every aspect of it — cable TV, data transmission, telephony, wireless, everything — at one time," said Cable Bahamas CFO Barry Williams. " We think we as a country can do better with true competition than we can without, and the privatization of BTC is an opportune time to bring that in."

The comments come in the build up to the sale of the Bahamas Telecommunications Company — or at least 49 percent of it — and the end of the exclusive license Cable Bahamas has held for the last 14 year.

The latter contract in fact expires in October 2009, and will open the cable television sector to the same kind of competitive forces Williams is so keen on extending to the entire industry.

At least one regional cable provider has already expressed interest in exploring what if

any opportunities await it in this market. Cable Bahamas, an affiliate of regional titan Columbus Communications is especially well positioned to take on all comers given its established networks not only in cable but Internet and, through its Caribbean Crossing affiliate, data transmission.

Still, it is prepared to extend that know-how into wireless and long distance service as well. A government decision to open those markets at the same time as BTC privatization would, says Williams, allows his company to exploit opportunities to grow its business, especially important given the increased competition it faces on its home turf of cable.

As late as last week the prime minister reiterated his government's intention to proceed to closing with the sell-off a BTC stake. That deadline is largely assumed to be the end of the year.

UK telecoms -giant Bluewater Ventures had been locked in negotiations with the previous administration for two years before the election. A tentative agreement for it to pay upwards of $260 million for a 49-percent stake was the outcome of those intensive talks.

While the current government has used that deal as a jumping off point, the chairman of the public utility, Julian Francis, told Guardian Business last month that the government was actively entertaining the idea of upping that stake.

Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham has also suggested the proceeds of the sale would likely be earmarked for the construction of a new hospital for Nassau.

Still, despite that progress — or maybe because of it — Williams may ultimately fail to win the full liberalization he seeks.

As part of that earlier proposed agreement with Bluewater — and after Ingraham's disastrous initial first attempt to sell off the corporation — the government was prepared to offer BTC's new ownership team the same kind of exclusivity deal Cable Bahamas enjoyed.

The sweet deal was floated as necessary to first attract a buyer and secondly to give the troubled telephone company time to trim the fat from its waistline and prepare for the potentially fatal blows of an open market.

It's a fight Williams team will face late next year.