On November 12th, 2014 Speednet Communications Limited (“Speednet”) issued a press release in which Speednet made a number of unfounded and misleading statements regarding the termination of DTN links provided to Speednet by Belize Telemedia Limited (“BTL”).
On July 27th, 2014 BTL began providing DTN links to Speednet between Belize City and Punta Gorda as a normal retail service. At no time during the negotiations or subsequent to the provision of the service did Speednet inform BTL that it had terminated its service with its previous providers.
The relevant portion of BTL’s network between Independence and Punta Gorda has been experiencing continuous deterioration of the fiber infrastructure causing limited capacity. BTL recently doubled‐up the Internet bandwidth to our broadband customers which caused a spike in current bandwidth usage. Due to increased demands on its network, BTL can no longer provide the DTN Lines to Speednet while adequately satisfying its own demands and requirements in providing quality telecommunications services.
In an effort to better serve its own customers and reduce the impact of errors on the network, termination of Speednet’s connection became necessary. As is required by law, BTL gave the requisite 30 days’ notice of its intention to terminate the 2 16Mbps DTN Links provided to Speednet.
Speednet then referred the matter to the Public Utilities Commission (“PUC”) alleging that provision of the DTN lines constituted a formal “Facility Sharing Agreement” pursuant to the Regulations, and therefore BTL was not entitled to terminate the service. After careful deliberation of the matter the PUC confirmed BTL’s position that the agreement was not facility sharing subject to regulation as alleged by Speednet. Speednet then applied to the Supreme Court for an injunction to stop BTL from terminating the service.
BTL categorically denies Speednet’s allegations of hostility and/or any attempt to undermine service to the people of Toledo. Any attempt by BTL to throttle or interfere with the quality provided to Speedent on the link would unavoidably affect BTL’s own customers who also receive service on the same network. In fact, BTL’s entire objective for terminating the service was to eliminate congestion and to better serve the people of Toledo and the entire nation of Belize.
