President Bharrat Jagdeo yesterday revealed that the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GT&T) has had its monopoly extended until the new telecommunications legislation is passed to liberalise the sector
He made the announcement yesterday at a news conference at the Office of the president.
“A letter was written from my office to say that the monopoly would be extended until the legislation is passed…,” he stated briefly.
Concern has surfaced that the company was operating illegally with the expiration of its 20-year licence which was granted in 1990.
In a letter carried in this newspaper on December 19 former Public Utilities Commission (PUC) chairman Joseph Tyndall had stated that the company’s licence was granted on December 19, 1990 therefore meaning the licence would have expired on that date two decades later. He added that GT&T would be operating illegally after that date if its licence was not renewed.
However, GT&T officials had told this newspaper when approached on December 20 that the licence granted in 1990 was “still current”. Director of Rates Marketing Gene Evelyn stated that the licence was valid and relicensing would occur under the new legislation.
“If they introduce new legislation then they have to talk to us about a new licence. Every operator will have to be relicensed under the new law,” he said.
He said GT&T had exercised its option to renew the licence and had submitted all the relevant documentation. Efforts to get exactly when the licence expires from both Evelyn and CEO Yog Mahadeo have been unsuccessful with the latter merely stating that “GT&T would never operate illegally.” Checks with the PUC were also futile.
GT&T’s main competitor Digicel has been calling for the breaking of the company’s monopoly for years now in the area of international data traffic.
At its year end briefing last month Digicel’s CEO Gregory Dean said his competitor’s stranglehold on that area had resulted in his company missing out on “quite a lot” of revenue.
“You see the report every quarter from GT&T and you see what they declare in terms of the international markets. They’re making three to four billion dollars every quarter so … it gives you an idea of the scale involved in terms of the international market,” Dean stated.
