Digicel says new telecoms law long overdue

Chief Executive Officer of Digicel Guyana, Gregory Dean, has noted that, while the company has no fears of a liberalised communications sector, the sloth in getting legislation enacted to break the current monopoly could hamper Digicel’s expansion plans.

Dean made the announcement at the year-in-review press conference   held at the company’s Kingston headquarters on Tuesday, December 21st.  

“We’ve always said from the beginning that, in terms of major investments, at some point, it will come in the business where legislation becomes a bottleneck to our further development; and that’s why I’ve said that liberalisation in the market is long overdue, because the longer we have the current monopoly situation, then the longer it is that Digicel will not be able to bring further investments to Guyana.” 

Government has recently drafted the Telecommunications Amendment Bill, and has been circulating this for comment from telecommunications services’ providers. Dean added that Digicel has made it no secret that the drafting of legislation is one of the key hurdles the company is facing as it seeks to make further investments in Guyana. 

The CEO noted that, since 2006, Digicel has invested more than US$60 million in Guyana. 

Dean noted that the draft legislation was seen by the company, and its concerns were expressed. The regulations and bills would seek to convert the existing situation of monopoly regarding the interpretation of the licence Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company Limited (GT&T) secured almost 20 years ago. The legislative changes would decide what would be the current technical and regulatory practices for landline and cellular services, spectrum management pricing, and interconnection. 

GT&T was given a 20-year monopoly licence for landline communication and other services when it brought 80 per cent of the shares of the then Guyana Telecommunications Corporation in 1990. ATN/GT&T also benefited from a non-exclusive licence for a 20-year period for wireless communication.

Last week, the Chief Executive Officer of the GT&T, Yog Mahadeo, told a news conference that the Draft Telecommunications Amendment Bill can give way to a surge of ‘illegality’ in the telecoms business, and to unfair competition. The bill seeks to reverse the existing monopoly procured under the GT&T licence obtained in the 1990s, and mainstream technical and regulatory practices for the landline and mobile services’ spectrum management, pricing, and inter-connection.

Mahadeo alluded to several concerns of the company, which he clearly stated are not indications of fear regarding the draft legislation. The proposed law and its regulations, Mahadeo claims, do not reflect an understanding of the challenges of Guyana or the telecommunication sector as a whole. Although GT&T has reviewed the bill and submitted its concerns already, the company contends that it was not given enough time to study and respond to the “voluminous” draft legislation. In addition, the company believes that the document has not been adequately circulated among all stakeholders, and hence some parties are basically “left in the dark.” 

While he acknowledged that the legislation would see multiple service providers, Mahadeo maintained that GT&T is neither averse to nor afraid of competition. “But the rules must be fair, and applied even-handedly.”  

However, Head of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr Roger Luncheon, responding, contended that government was not being one-sided in its action to open the door for competition in the telecommunications sector. He said the administration has extended the time for telecommunications providers to study the draft legislation and submit their comments. 

Meanwhile, asked about Digicel’s customer base, Dean said that the company did not see a large growth of membership this year, but it was able to maintain its current 250,000-customer base.