PM delays telecom interconnection regulations
gives more time for consumer group
Stabroek News
November 7, 2002
The Prime Minister has delayed promulgating the Telecommunications Interconnection Regulations, set to start on Tuesday, so as to allow the Consumers Association time to register its concerns.
Advance copies of the regulations were circulated to various interested parties for their comments but some complained that the period given for consideration was too short.
The regulations affect the terms and conditions by which competing cellular phone companies will be able to access GT&T's landline and mobile networks.
Among those concerned about the rush is former Public Utilities Commission (PUC) Chairman, Joe Tyndall, who in a letter to the Guyana Chronicle on November 4 raised a number of concerns about the proposed regulations including the Act under which the Prime Minister would be promulgating the regulations.
The Prime Minister told Stabroek News that he has been advised that Tyndall's arguments are not entirely persuasive as in the absence of a Director of Telecommunications the PUC Act could be used as an alternative.
Tyndall argues that instead of the PUC Act, the regulations should be promulgated under the Telecommunications Act which is specific to telecommunications operations. He questions too the application of the regulations to the operations of the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GT&T) since "the PUC Act cannot automatically supersede or amend a licence granted under the Telecommunications Act."
He contends too that the Prime Minister "does not have the authority to modify GT&T's licence, including the conditions governing interconnection arrangements" and that this authority "falls squarely within the authority of the Director of Telecommunications".
Caribbean Telecommunications Limited (CTL) also expressed concerns about the regulations, which the Prime Minister said would also be taken into account. CTL says if the regulations are promulgated before the Court of Appeal's ruling on its interconnect agreement with GT&T it would not have the benefits "of the appellate court's reasoning which could prove very useful in elucidating the complexities of interconnection in Guyana".
It is also concerned about the functions of the PUC under the regulations because of past difficulties it has had with that body in arbitrating between it and GT&T.
