The phone company has agreed to commence negotiations with the government on breaking its monopoly once it gets an interim increase from the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) and such an increase is anticipated some time this week.

Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Doodnauth Singh met the phone company's chief executive officer, Sonita Jagan and her legal adviser, Senior Counsel Miles Fitzpatrick, last Monday to discuss negotiations.

"The company has committed that immediately upon the PUC giving a rate increase, the date to commence negotiations can be fixed and this is likely to happen by early March," Singh, who will head the government's negotiating team, said yesterday.

PUC Chairman, Prem Persaud, said on Thursday that the PUC commissioners were meeting either tomorrow or on Tuesday to consider all the evidence in the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company Ltd (GT&T) application for increases in local rates by as much as 1,900%. He said it was likely that an announcement would be made shortly thereafter, as he hoped that a decision could be made on an interim increase for the company until the matter was finally determined.

Singh said in Thursday that Cabinet's position was that it wanted the negotiations commenced as early as possible and it held the view that the government was in a strong position to negotiate.

The government wants GT&T to come to the table without linking the negotiations to its financial position but counsel for the firm, Fitzpatrick and Rex McKay, both senior counsel, wrote to Singh last Friday cautioning the government against moving unilaterally on the issue and showing the legal nexus between the negotiations for a break of the company's contract to its financial position.

The government, in 1991, guaranteed GT&T a 15% rate of return and with the drastic reduction in its international settlement rates, the firm will not be able to achieve this without rate increases. GT&T wants this issue dealt with before it comes to the table.

Singh indicated that he got a call from GT&T for a meeting and this took place last Monday, after he received the letter from Fitzpatrick and McKay the previous Friday.

The Attorney General said that the contents of the letter to him and copied to Cabinet Secretary, Dr Roger Luncheon, were not discussed but the conditions for GT&T to be able to sit with the government and negotiate a break of its monopoly, were.

He said that Jagan wanted to have a meeting arranged with the President but the timing was problematic as she was currently out of the country and when she returned, the President would have left. He said that for all intents and purposes, while the government did not want the issue of rate increases linked to the negotiations, if the PUC granted an interim relief next week, the company would, in effect, be meeting the government under conditions it had set. The conditions being for the rate increase issue to be addressed before it started talks with the government.

Singh said the talks with Fitzpatrick and Jagan centred on when the negotiations will commence and areas of other concerns. He said that GT&T had set out conditions by which it would be prepared to break the monopoly contract it has with the government. Singh was not in a position to divulge what these conditions were.

Singh said that Cabinet was briefed on the meeting he had with Fitzpatrick and Jagan and took a position that negotiations should commence as early as possible. He said the government's position remained that the PUC was an independent body and it could not influence its course of conduct in rate hearings.

Singh noted that in the rest of the Caribbean, an end to monopolies in telecommunications was being negotiated and it was acceptable to all sides in Guyana that the monopoly had to go. He said his discussions with Jagan and Fitzpatrick also sought to clarify the method of negotiations and establish the areas of concern.

Optimistic that with an interim rate hike for the phone company negotiations could start as early as March, Singh's team will be aided by government senior telecommunications adviser, Canadian Hank Intven. Other members of that team will be Prime Minister Samuel Hinds, Dr Michael Tang, an adviser in Singh's chambers, Priya Seonarine, an official in the AG Chambers and Gita Raghubeer with the telecommunications reform secretariat.

GT&T's negotiating team will be headed by Jagan and comprise McKay, Fitzpatrick Godfrey Statia and others.

Singh said he did not expect the negotiations to be protracted.