Dear Editor,
There has been much debate about the expiry date of the GT&T monopoly licence. Former Public Utilities Com-mission (PUC) Chairman, Mr Joseph Tyndall, was cited in your January 11 issue as saying that the licence was granted on December 19, 1990, and, so, must have expired on December 19, 2010, since it was for 20 years. Your writer also cited GT&T company officials as contradicting Mr Tyndall.
They say that the licence is still valid. Based on research that I have conducted during the past fourteen years on the development of telecommunications in Guyana from 1884 to 1994, I wish to shed some light on the matter of the GT&T licence. On June 18, 1990, the Guyana Government and Atlantic Tele Network (ATN), the parent company of GT&T, signed a US$16.5 million initial agreement for ATN to acquire 80% of the Guyana Telecommunications Corporation (GTC), with the government retaining 20%. Mr Jeffrey Prosser signed on behalf of ATN and Mr Haslyn Parris for the government. Signing was the formality that concretised the parties’ mutual commitment to the deal; however, necessary legislation had to be passed in Parliament, and a final agreement signed.
On October 15, 1990 three pieces of legislation were tabled in the National Assembly and piloted through the House by Mr Haslyn Parris: one piece was to amend the Public Corporations Act of 1978; another was to bring into force the PUC Bill (providing for the establishment of a regulatory body for public utilities); and the final section was the Public Corporations Bill to facilitate the transfer of all necessary assets of the GTC to the new company – the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GT&T).
On October 19, 1990, the Telecommunications Bill was approved, and, thereafter former President Hugh Desmond Hoyte signed the GTC Dissolution and Transfer of Undertakings Order (1990), transferring the assets and liabilities and undertakings of GTC to GT&T. GT&T then became fully owned by the Government of Guyana, which in-turn sold 80% of its shares to Atlantic Tele Network (ATN), the parent company of GT&T. The transaction was finalized on January 28, 1991, after ATN paid over US$16.5 million to the Guyana Government.
The government appointed two directors as its shares allowed: Patrick Persaud of Patmar Ltd and Edward Downer of the Ministry of Public Utilities.
It would seem to me that Mr Tyndall has been using the date when the GT&T licence was issued as the date of essence, while GT&T’s reference is to the date when the agreement was finally sealed by the payment of cash. Prior to handing over the US$16.5 million, ATN or GT&T owned and could have operated nothing in Guyana. That is why GT&T has always observed January 28 as its anniversary.
In the interest of setting the record straight for posterity, I would like to respectfully submit to the learned Mr Tyndall that GT&T’s 20-year monopoly licence officially ends on January 28, 2011.
Yours faithfully,
Lennox Cornette
Communications Consultant
Former Public Relations Officer
of GT&T
