Being Diplomatic About Bad Debt

Many know about the debt problems of African countries, thanks to Bono, Bob Geldof and the like. Clean drinking water can also be in short supply. But how about this story saying western utilities may find themselves chasing African bad debts incurred much closer to home. It seems that keeping up with water payments is a problem for various West African diplomatic missions situated in East Manhattan. I pity the poor collections manager who has to chase these outstanding utility bills. Threatening to cut off their supply could lead to a diplomatic incident! If they owe this much for their water bills, I wonder how much they owe other suppliers?

Bono is in the habit of giving sermons about debt to the UN in New York. Next time Bono is in town, perhaps the diplomats can get him to answer the collection manager’s calls….

Eric Priezkalns
Eric Priezkalnshttp://revenueprotect.com

Eric is the Editor of Commsrisk. Look here for more about the history of Commsrisk and the role played by Eric.

Eric is also the Chief Executive of the Risk & Assurance Group (RAG), an association of professionals working in risk management and business assurance for communications providers. RAG was founded in 2003 and Eric was appointed CEO in 2016.

Previously Eric was Director of Risk Management for Qatar Telecom and he has worked with Cable & Wireless, T‑Mobile, Sky, Worldcom and other telcos. He was lead author of Revenue Assurance: Expert Opinions for Communications Providers, published by CRC Press.

Related Articles

Get Our Weekly Newsletter by Email