Latest update April 24th, 2024 12:59 AM
Jun 14, 2014 News
– as liberalization “deadline” looms
The National Assembly is tentatively set to debate key legislations that will pave the way for new companies to enter the lucrative telecoms market but this has not stopped the march of the current operators from pulling out all stops to keep their customers.
Both the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GT&T) and mobile giant, Digicel Guyana, have been running ads with the latter even offering a credit loan.
In a full page advertisement in Kaieteur News on Thursday and again yesterday, Digicel announced that it was offering a credit loan to its customers who are on the prepaid service and have run out of funds.
All the customer has to do is dial *141# and they could access up to $141 in a credit loan. Of course, the money will have to be paid back on the next top up and there will be a service charge of $9.
GT&T, on the same day, also ran an ad of its own. The company for over two decades has had a monopoly on landline services and overseas calls. The new legislations would have allowed other players including Digicel to compete with GT&T on these services.
According to the US-owned GT&T, it has been involved in 23 years of economic investments with $58B plugged in capital programs. An estimated $51B was paid to the National Treasury for various commitments, including taxes.
The company has also invested $400M in a Mobile Money and wireless bill payment system.
Government has been pushing aggressively for the liberalization of the telecoms industry, arguing that there is a need for new players to allow Guyana to move in line with other countries.
With technology seeing smartphones and tablets becoming more popular, there has been a growing demand for internet speed and other data services to be introduced.
New legislations will allow smartphone users to make video calls, download YouTube videos and a host of other features.
Digicel itself has made no secret that it wants to move into also offering landline services and the 4G (Fourth Generation) system to its customers.
Digicel’s Chief Executive Officer, Gregory Dean, last week said that his company has not discounted offering packaged services that would include internet, landline and even cable television.
The passage of the Telecommunication Bill will break the two decade stranglehold of international calls and landline services held by the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GT&T).
It is expected that the legislations will be considered before the National Assembly goes in to recess early August.
Since announcing that it will break the 20-year GT&T monopoly more than two years ago, Government had tabled the Bills but there were objections by the US-parent company of that entity which argued that it wants negotiations as there was an existing contract on the table.
It is expected that current high prices for internet access and other related services would dip with new players entering. The considerations of the legislations were placed on hold and the matter sent to a Special Select Committee of the National Assembly.
Several new housing schemes have been complaining about the long wait for telephone services, a popular, cheaper prerequisite for internet connection.
The faster 4G in simple language means that Digicel customers will be able to access data at 14 times the current speed. It will allow for almost seamless viewing of You-Tube videos.
A recently released study of the Inter-American Development Bank placed Guyana at the bottom of the region in terms of internet speed, yet one of the most expensive.
Digicel believes that it can rollout the services in as little as a year, in a market considered an important one for the group.
Since its entry into the Guyana market in 2007, Digicel says it has sunk US$70M in network and data services.
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This is very interesting.I guess the payment of your loan will be added to your monthly subscription and it’s interest .hope that it would be lighter.