Concerns of Imminent Bankruptcy at BTL Raised by Opposition Leader

The opposition leader is expressing concerns over what they feel is an imminent declaration of bankruptcy at the Belize Telemedia Limited (BTL).  He told the media this morning that his concerns stem from the dwindling profits which he says has gone from 30 million to one million dollars.  He also cited issues with the government contracts issued to SMART and the sale of lands belonging to BTL.

Moses “Shyne” Barrow, Leader of the Opposition: “The sabotage of BTL has gone in multiple stages. First it was the contracts going to SMART. Millions of dollars of contracts going to SMART which is affiliated with the Honorable Prime Minister. Then we have all of the contracts that used to go to the government then going to SMART again so then we have now the properties of BTL being sold and we believe that is because we’re at the last stage where BTL is going to be declared bankrupt and so we call this to the attention of the Belizean people because the Belizean people are the majority owner of BTL and these are the things that really indicate and really expose the People’s United Party for the corrupt government that they are.”

It is to be noted that at the last Annual General Meeting of the Belize Telemedia Limited (BTL) in November last year, a 54 percent increase in dividends was declared for the fiscal year ending March 2023.  Additionally, it was reported that Government had collected six point eight million dollars in revenue from BTL, and that they have recently expanded its fiber to home network with fourteen new sites and the mobile network with 18 new sites.  According to CEO Ivan Tesecum, the way forward for BTL is to target the untapped areas during this new fiscal year.