Improved and new services will be rolled out in the coming months, with the liberalisation of the telecommunications sector on the horizon, now that the Telecommunication (Amendment) Bill 2016 has been passed in parliament, Chief Executive Officer of GTT Justin Nedd has said.
Speaking yesterday at GTT headquarters on Brickdam, Nedd said the company was “Happy about it [the liberalization of the sector] and there will be a number of positive benefits that the country will see.
“The passing of the bill is just one step closer to liberalisation. It’s not tomorrow we will get tons of competitors in the market but it is certainly a positive step and a significant move to bringing better and improved service to the people of Guyana.”
He said that in order to have liberalisation, GTT and the government have to engage in discussions and the company is ready to “quickly engage the government.”
Nedd explained that last week he had a discussion with Minister of Telecommunications Catherine Hughes and received a commitment that they would be moving quickly to open the market. “We are all for that, but the essential thing for us is to move quickly and start talking to the government,” Nedd added.
Highlighting the benefits of having the sector opened, Nedd said that the company is exceptionally happy for the positive economic benefits that will come to the country. “First off the bat, no secrets that we are happy about that,” he said, adding that there will also be an accelerated rate of learning and clarity on operation of the sector which is a good thing as businesses like predictability.
“Many of you will remember the days of university. I know I remember for sure; going into the library, looking for a book, going into the index you get to the page that you want and somebody tore out the page and it’s back to the drawing board,” he said, stating that with the internet now everything is online and available and with the liberalisation the company would be offering more and better services.
Nedd said that currently there are a lot of grey areas the company is trying to resolve as it has been operating in those grey areas for several years. “So we are optimistic that with liberalisation it’ll be clear. Businesses need predictability and once we have a predictable operating environment we can focus on driving the business, providing good service to the customer and getting things done right,” he added.
Emphasizing the importance of immediate negotiations, Nedd explained that the next steps for the company are to adjust the rates and the development of new regulations for the entire sector and not just the company. He said GTT was looking forward to the entry of competition in the market to complete against and having a level playing field for the entire sector.
While there have been many complaints by consumers about GTT’s 4G services, Nedd explained that the liberalisation had nothing to do with the data service. When asked by reporters about the poor service, he explained that while a project of such size would normally take 9 months to roll out, they did it in two weeks. “We were able to finally get some permission to do it [4G] for the jubilee in early May and were able to push out a significant portion of our network in a few weeks and we are still working on expanding that network but liberalization and 4G are two separate issues,” he said.
Pointing out the importance for negotiations, Nedd said respect for the rule of law is something that is critical for any country that wants foreign investment. “It is important for investors to understand that if I have a contract with the government it will be honoured,” he said.
When questioned on the specificity of the contract, he said he was not in a position to disclose anything, but asserted that the company is not asking for the monopoly to remain in place. “We want this. Proper negotiations for the contract [are] more important for future investment and we are heavily in favour of breaking the monopoly,” he said.
He stated that regardless of the liberalisation, GTT was always working to improve its services and is confident that in the months ahead it will be able to offer customers better service.
