Latest update April 20th, 2024 12:59 AM
May 05, 2014 News
Chief Executive Officer of the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GT&T), Radha Krishna Sharma, has dispelled allegations that his company is opposed to the liberalisation of the telecommunication sector.
“I am not aware of any view that we are against liberalisation,” the CEO said, while he categorically affirmed that the premier telephone company has been supportive and will continue to support the path to liberalisation.
“We have publicly spoken for liberalisation, in fact so much so that Digicel kept an ad (advertisement) quoting what I said for perhaps one or two weeks,” said Sharma.
During a recent interview with media operatives, Sharma vocalised his conviction that there is need for the telecommunication sector to be “deepened and strengthened.”
For a number of years GT&T has held the monopoly in the sector even with Digicel’s (the only other phone company operating locally) penetration in 2006. However in the quest to put an end to the monopoly, the Telecommunications Bill was crafted, which must be aided by a Public Utilities Commission Amendment Bill, to allow for an open market.
And according to Sharma, “in any country when you have liberalisation of any sort, it goes through a process of consultation, it goes through a process of revision (and) this has a legislative aspect.”
Currently, the Telecommunications Bill sits before a Parliamentary Select Committee which is expected to address any concerns relating to the Bill. “We obviously have some concerns and those concerns have been articulated in our submissions to the Select Committee,” Sharma disclosed.
However when asked about GT&T’s concerns with the Bill, Sharma intimated that “I have debated in my mind whether it would be the best of protocol to discuss with the media…you have got to understand that a Select Committee is part of the legislative mechanism and I honestly came to the conclusion that it would be bad protocol for me to discuss what we have presented.”
He nevertheless assured that after the matter would have been deliberated on at the level of the Select Committee and is placed in the public domain “I can surely then discuss that in more detail…it would be bad in procedure for us to discuss (now) what we presented to the Select Committee.”
The Telecommunications Bill, which was first introduced in 2011, was touted as a “major shake-up” to an industry which has for more than two decades been dominated by GT&T. Once passed, the Bill will pave the way for competition from other companies.
Cabinet Secretary, Dr Roger Luncheon, who had first spoken publicly of the Bill, had noted that following the implementation of such legislation the terms and conditions of the agreement that GT&T had signed with the People’s National Congress back in the day will become non-existent.
GT&T is currently the only company licensed to install and operate landlines. It also offers cellular and internet service as well.
The company also controls the international calling sector since all international calls have to be routed through their switches. DIGICEL, on the other hand, which has branches in a number of regional territories, has been offering only cellular service across the country. The latter company is however required to route its international calls through GT&T.
Where is the BETTER MANAGEMENT/RENEGOTIATION OF THE OIL CONTRACTS you promised Jagdeo?
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