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Telecoms liberalization deadline looms… Govt, GTT reach agreement on spectrum allocation – Hughes
Scenes from the historic successful no confidence motion brought against the APNU+AFC Government
Minister of Public Telecommunications, Catherine Hughes, said Government remains on track to reach an agreement with the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GTT) to liberalize the telecommunication sector.
Hughes told Kaieteur News that earlier this month, the Government met with executives from GTT and its parent company, US-owned Atlantic Tele-Network (ATN).
“We have had very good discussions…I am very happy with how it has gone,” Hughes explained.
The Minister indicated that the talks continue with GTT that has a monopoly on landlines and international calls.
Minister of Public Telecommunications, Catherine Hughes
Since coming to office in 2015, the Government promised to break the monopoly, but encountered some sticking points, including the fact that GTT was demanding an agreement on the award of spectrum as part of a deal.
Hughes has promised to break the monopoly by the end of this year. With only a few days remaining in the year to close the deal, Hughes is still confident of meeting the timeline.
“They have made request for spectrum and so the main one was the spectrum issue and I am happy that there was agreement on that,” Hughes noted.
The Minister indicated that there are still some issues in terms of the actual implementation and it could be some time before a joint position is made public.
Guyana is desperately trying to open up the market to allow new competitors into the industry. In July 2016, Guyana managed to pass key legislation, the Telecommunications (Amendment) Bill 15/2016.
Negotiations with GTT started in December 2016. In January, last, the Telecommunications Minister indicated that Government will not be rushed.
With anger at the seeming sloth of investments, like the unrolling of landlines in un-served areas by GTT, the delays in concluding the negotiations have been causing unease.
With tax breaks and other issues with GRA, the telephone company had been holding out for a number of concessions.
Government was mindful of the implications that would result from giving special treatment to GTT. In fact, Hughes had indicated that any concession granted to GTT will be offered to all operators in the sector.
“There will be no special privileges,” Minister Hughes stressed.
She had warned that the “focus” is not getting the negotiation done in the shortest span of time, but making sure that there is an “end game” that suits everyone.
Hughes said that the Government is “extremely careful” to ensure that there is a deal with which everyone is happy.
GTT’s major competitor is Digicel, which has also expressed an interest in landing a fibre optic cable.
Digicel has been aggressive, too, in competing with GTT on the mobile market. But under the current arrangement, it is supposed to route foreign calls through GTT.
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