Opposition absent as Bills sent to Select Committee

Aug 12, 2011 News

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Telecoms legislation…

By Leonard Gildarie
Two pieces of legislation, that government says will break the monopoly of the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GT&T) and throw the telecommunications sector wide open for investments, have been sent to a Special Select Parliamentary Committee for consideration.
But the debate of the Bills was not without controversy as the three opposition parties remained conspicuously absent from yesterday’s proceedings. While the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) had indicated that it would not work during the Parliamentary recess to complete key legislation, the empty chairs of the Alliance For Change (AFC) and GAP/ROAR coalition said it all.
The special committee now has until early September to finish its considerations and public consultations for the two Bills before they are returned to the National Assembly.

GT&T’s iron-clad agreement inked during the PNC administration in the early 90’s had been seen by government as a major impediment to the growth of the telecommunications sector, with only Digicel offering competition in the form of mobile services.
GT&T has a monopoly on landlines and international calls.
The legislation, when enacted into law, will effectively nullify the GT&T agreement and allow for other companies to enter the local market, offering a variety of services and benefits, including more bandwidth, more mobile service providers, more landlines and a host of other internet-related services.
Prime Minister Samuel Hinds, who is charged with telecommunications, in his arguments for the legislation, assured that the 95 clauses and seven sets of regulations will provide Guyana an opportunity to boost its own open and competitive telecoms sector.
“ (The Bills) have been written as to create, comprehensively, a new competitive regime which will be fair to and preserve the activities of the current sector participants, and be attractive to new entrants, large or small, of wide interests or narrow and specialized (interests).”
Hinds noted the government’s ownership did not prove too feasible and there was an understandable turn to privatize in the late 80’s.
COMPETITION GOOD
“The competition between the blues (GT&T) and the reds (Digicel) has certainly benefitted out people. Each cell phone service reports about 300,000 customers with handsets ranging from the most basic to the most sophisticated, nearly every one of the people, including children, now has a cell phone.”
The legislation, according to the Prime Minister, was conceptualized using international, best practices. There will be significant legislative changes to also address licencing and spectrum authorization, pricing, interconnection and access, universal access, competition issues and consumer protection.
When enacted into law, the legislation will also address the number of Internet Protocol service providers – four large ones in Guyana – and a number of other companies linked.
But government has not been laid back in transforming the industry. A fibre optic cable from Brazil for e-government purposes and another cable to connect Moleson Creek, Berbice to Charity, Essequibo Coast, are underway, opening up the possibility of remote areas being serviced. Then, there is the One Laptop Per Family project to equip 90,000 poor families with either a laptop or a netbook.
Under the legislation, the Telecommunications Agency, under which the National Frequency Monitoring Unit (NFMU) will fall, will be the technical regulator while the Public Utilities Commission will function as the economic regulator for the sector.
The Minister will among other things, be responsible for developing policy, overseeing the agency and granting and denying applications for licences and frequency authorizations.
NEW LICENCES
Both GT&T and Digicel will be issued new licences with different conditions, and the four internet service providers will finally be receiving theirs.
Regarding consultations with regard to the legislation, prior to being tabled last week, Hinds said that discussions have been taking place for awhile, between the stakeholders.
According to the Prime Minister, GT&T had asked for a five-year moratorium on issues like interconnection and the unbundling of services.
With Digicel indicating that they will be ready to implement earlier, Hinds made it clear that the discretion will be up to the Minister.
“We did not consider it in the best interest of Guyana to agree to a blanket five-year moratorium…”
Lending support to the Bills also was Minister of Home Affairs, Clement Rohee, who stressed that they are “flagship legislations”. He made reference to situations years ago where persons had to wait days to make international calls using the state-owned telephone company. He pointed out that in addition to prices for key telecoms services dropping significantly, with new competition entering the market, there will be more access to areas traditionally without services.
PPP/C’s Anil Nandlall in his comments noted that the bills are critical ones and must be seen in the light of what the telecommunications situation was 25 years ago where 10% of the population had landlines.

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