President Donald Ramotar on Tuesday, February 14, held discussions separately with officials from Digicel and chairman of the Private Sector Commission (PSC), Ramesh Dookhoo at the Office of the President.
Dookhoo described the meeting as a “warm up” in wake of another meeting scheduled for February 16 with the Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of various private sector companies in the country. A statement by the Government Information Agency (GINA) said that the CEO’s meeting will afford them an opportunity to interact with the president in a somewhat informal setting to discuss issues affecting the private sector.
President Ramotar sits as the Chairman of the National Competitiveness Council within which the private sector plays an integral role. Dookhoo told GINA that the Linden to Lethem road and other infrastructural investments were discussed with the President.
President Donald Ramotar meeting with Director of Digicel, P.J Mara, Chief Executive Officer, Digicel Guyana Inc., Gregory Dean, and Group Projects Director, Lisa Lewis
Meanwhile, Ramotar also held talks with Digicel’s Director P J Mara, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Gregory Dean, and Group Projects Director Lisa Lewis at the Office of the President.
Mara in an invited comment told GINA that the meeting was aimed at keeping the president informed about the company’s plans as well as to ascertain his views on the company’s overall performance here.
“We are broadening out our whole range of services into fully fledged telecommunications business; moving away from being just a single play mobile phone business… becoming more heavily involved in the ICT,” the Director said.
Digicel, Mara said is looking forward to meeting with other officials with the view of developing new services that will benefit citizens.
Meanwhile, Digicel’s CEO Dean said that all the parties have expressed an interest in breaking the monopoly and added that his company is hopeful that the Telecommunications Bill, which paves the way for a more liberalised sector, will be passed in the 10th Parliament.
“It is necessary for all the players in the market that we have a level playing field so that we can all compete evenly and it will bring a lot of benefits for the Guyanese consumers in terms of the products and services as well as the price… even with the limited competition we have had so far, we have seen over 50 per cent reduction in prices, access has improved and quality has not suffered; so for us we think in a liberalised field we can have the same quality, new products and at a lower price,” Dean told GINA.
The Telecommunications Bill, which was presented to the National Assembly on August 4, 2011, seeks to provide a coordinated, open, and competitive telecommunications sector, breaking the monopoly of the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph (GT&T) Company. Once passed, this piece of legislation is expected to result in greater choice, better quality of service and lower prices for consumers.
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