Belize Telemedia Owed $20 Million, Working to Collect Outstanding Fees

Twenty million Belize dollars – that is the amount that is currently owed to Belize Telemedia Limited.  According to its Chairman, Mark Lizarraga, as huge as that figure is, it is thirty million dollars less than when he took office in 2020. The national telecommunications provider is now hoping that it can work with the public to collect the outstanding fees which can be used to improve its services and expansion projects.

Mark Lizarraga, Chairman, BTL Board of Directors: “When we came to the national telecom I think the outstanding arrears were somewhere in the region of about $50 million I believe we have that down now to about thirty something million, low thirties. So we are beginning to see massive improvements which allow us again to expand our services and provide the services for those communities that are pleading with us to bring connectivity and services to the area.”

Reporter: Has it been difficult trying to collect those funds ? 

Mark Lizarraga, Chairman, BTL Board of Directors: “You know most people have agreed to payment terms. Most people understand that they need to pay for those services. You know if they don’t pay then you and I will never see rates going down. You and I will never see services improving. You and I will never see services increasing across the country it is not fair for some of us to be paying our bills and other not to be paying. So what we’ve tried to do we’ve tried to come up with very lenient payment terms for those persons that had arrears with us and for the most part it’s working.”