Speednet breaks silence: BTL tried to buy us in 2022 and the public said no twice

By Breaking Belize News Staff (HP): Speednet Communications has spoken for the first time in the acquisition saga, and its statement rewrites the timeline. According to a release issued Friday, BTL first approached Speednet with a purchase offer in 2022, then again in mid-2025. On the first occasion, the release states, BTL itself terminated the discussions following its assessment of public sentiment, and “it has become very clear over the past months that the public strongly believes that this acquisition should not proceed.” The company says it recognized that sentiment early and focused instead on the competitive environment ahead, a future confirmed by Thursday’s Cabinet decision pulling support for the deal. Speednet’s release offers its own account of what that decision entails, describing what it calls mandatory operational, regulatory and competitive adjustments facing BTL: government ministries putting all telecoms contracts to public tender, a Public Utilities Commission determination of BTL’s market dominance requiring full compliance with rulings designed to level the playing field, and mandatory infrastructure sharing with competitors at cost, enforceable by the PUC and the courts. The company contends that regulatory practices since government took ownership of BTL in 2009 have heavily favored the incumbent, despite the liberalization goals of the 2002 telecommunications legislation. Government’s own detailed statement on the decision’s terms is awaited. Speednet thanked the Chamber of Commerce, the unions, the media and civil society for what it called strong public support, and pledged to invest heavily in state-of-the-art technologies “to ensure that it provides the best and latest telecommunications services to the people of Belize, at affordable prices.” The post Speednet breaks silence: BTL tried to buy us in 2022 and the public said no twice appeared first on Belize News and Opinion on www.breakingbelizenews.com.