{"id":77754,"date":"2026-01-09T15:14:49","date_gmt":"2026-01-09T21:14:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greaterbelize.com\/?p=77754"},"modified":"2026-01-09T15:14:49","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T21:14:49","slug":"independent-senators-say-no-to-btl-telecom-takeover","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greaterbelize.com\/independent-senators-say-no-to-btl-telecom-takeover\/","title":{"rendered":"Independent Senators Say NO to BTL Telecom Takeover"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Belize\u2019s four independent senators, Kevin Herrera, Louis Wade, Glenfield Dennison, and Janelle Chanona, have drawn a firm line against the proposed expansion by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.greaterbelize.com\/a-big-deal-btl-chairman-defends-telecom-consolidation-push\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Belize Telemedia Limited<\/a> (BTL), warning that the move could reshape the telecommunications sector into a monopoly.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In a joint position, the senators aligned themselves with calls from the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.greaterbelize.com\/bcci-warns-against-btl-smart-acquisition-without-competition-safeguards\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Belize Chamber of Commerce and Industry<\/a> and the National Trade Union Congress of Belize to halt any decisions related to BTL\u2019s planned acquisition of commercial assets.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">They are demanding full public disclosure before any approvals are granted, including independent valuations and a clear explanation of the rationale behind the proposed acquisitions.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The senators cautioned that allowing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.greaterbelize.com\/confirmed-ssb-chair-resigns-btl-board-over-big-telecom-deal\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">BTL<\/a> to absorb additional commercial interests would be a step backward for competition and consumers. \u201cAny decision to transform the telecommunications landscape into a monopoly is regressive,\u201d they stated.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Invoking their constitutional role, the social partner senators said they are prepared to act collectively to block the move if necessary. \u201cIn keeping with our oath to uphold the Constitution and the principles of social justice,\u201d the senators said they will operate as a \u201cunified block\u201d in the Senate.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">They described the proposed acquisition as a \u201csordid initiative\u201d and signaled that they will use their full powers as senators to counter it unless transparency and accountability are ensured.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Belize\u2019s four independent senators, Kevin Herrera, Louis Wade, Glenfield Dennison, and Janelle Chanona, have drawn a firm line against the proposed expansion by Belize Telemedia Limited (BTL), warning that the move could reshape the telecommunications sector into a monopoly. In a joint position, the senators [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":77755,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[484,444,475],"tags":[9772,9777],"class_list":["post-77754","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breaking-news","category-latest-news","category-news","tag-2026-01-09","tag-independent-senators-say-no-to-btl-telecom-takeover"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greaterbelize.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77754","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greaterbelize.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greaterbelize.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greaterbelize.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greaterbelize.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77754"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.greaterbelize.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77754\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77756,"href":"https:\/\/www.greaterbelize.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77754\/revisions\/77756"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greaterbelize.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77755"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greaterbelize.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77754"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greaterbelize.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77754"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greaterbelize.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77754"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}