Georgetown: Digicel is reiterating its call for liberalisation of the telecommunications sector as the 10th Parliament will start early next year. The telecommunications provider is also calling on its competitor, GT&T to clarify its position on the ending of the monopoly.
According to Digicel Guyana CEO, Gregory Dean, “Digicel welcomes GT&T’s CEO Yog Mahadeo’s recent comment on their support for liberalisation; however Digicel believes that the time has come for GT&T to clarify and publicly state its objections to the legislation to achieve the same so that the issue can be resolved once and for all and stop engaging in PR niceties.”
“The dramatic 11th hour reversal of the planned telecommunications reform was attributed to the “possibility of litigation and acrimony” which arose following communications between the Government and US based ATN / GT&T. Now more than two months later, GT&T nor its parent company ATN has stated what their concerns were with the bill,” Dean said.
After months of consultations and commitments, the Government pulled the 2011 Telecommunications Reform Bill on September 22 due to these last minute submissions from ATN/GT&T.
“The reality is that liberalisation would probably force GT&T to get away from its monopoly/subsidy mindset and manage itself as a proper competitive company. Businesses should thrive on merit and through competing vigorously; not by sitting on a guaranteed monopoly for two decades that grants it significant advantages over other operators. GT&T needs to join the rest of the business world in the 21st century. ATN’s US businesses would not have been able to make the gains they have made in the USA if they did not operate in a fair competitive environment so why should Guyana have to treat their Guyanese subsidiary GT&T any different.” Dean concluded.
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