Unilateral
Sometime this year, the PPP/C administration will unilaterally pass a Telecommunications Bill that will see a change in the size, structure and management of the information and communications sector. The new law will, in effect, replace the existing legislation on telecommunications in Guyana that came into being in 1990. The changes to the law are extensive and impose substantial responsibility on those persons or entities that participate in the industry. Its focus is not only on service providers but also on users of the system that no one will be spared its consequences. Given the far-reaching nature of the Bill, passing it without multiparty support is equivalent to rejecting the concerns and views of the majority of those who will be subject to its effects.
Unchecked Powers
The stated purpose of the Bill is ostensibly to provide for the establishment of a Telecommunications Agency to help regulate the operation of the telecommunications industry.