Gov't pulls plug on GT&T's new cellular service
-cites delays in opening market to competition
Stabroek News
June 2, 2004
The government has ordered that GT&T stop all its work on a new cellular system it has already installed, citing its impatience at the "protracted delay in opening up the cellular mobile service market to competition."
This appears to be a reference to the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company's (GT&T) refusal to go forward with an interconnection agreement with Cel*Star and the stalled talks to break GT&T's monopoly.
In a press statement issued by the Government Informa-tion Agency, the government says that on May 28 the National Frequency Manage-ment Unit advised GT&T to put on hold all of their plans and programmes to implement a Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM)in Guyana.
It states that protracted delays in opening up the market for competition are resulting in the inefficient use of the GSM 900 MHz band by limiting its use to a single operator.
"The government has therefore decided to review its policy and the procedure and principles for the allocation of frequencies granted for the Cellular Services Market to maximise its use."
The decision comes at a time when the phone company had already installed the new system and was set to hold a public relations exercise explaining its benefits, sources say. The service was to be launched in the next two months after testing.
GSM would allow GT&T to offer far more services to the customer including Short Message Service, international roaming, picture messaging, mobile internet and voicemail.
This is just the latest salvo in a series of disputes the government has had with the monopoly phone company as it tries to undo a contract signed in 1991 under the PNCR government. This became more complicated when start up cellular phone company, Cel*Star last year accused GT&T of refusing to honour an agreement to provide it with a connection to its network. However, GT&T officials had expressed concern over court cases disputing the ownership of Cel*Star.
Cel*Star said GT&T had stopped all physical implementation work required under the interconnection agreement.
Interconnection is a standard practice whereby telecommunication companies join up their networks to provide customers with seamless service.
Cel*Star contends that GT&T's argument for the need to have the proceedings over transactions involving Cel*Star's former business associates resolved prior to work resuming, is totally irrelevant to the issue of interconnectivity. GSM had been one of the new services that Cel*Star proposed to offer and which it intended to use to establish market share.
In July 2002 GT&T's parent company, Atlantic Tele Network (ATN) moved to a US court asking it to direct then US Treasury Director, Paul O'Neill, to instruct the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) board, to veto an Information and Communications Technology (ICT) project and the attached loans on the ground that the project infringed upon its monopoly rights in Guyana. The US court threw out the case.
The company went on the offensive after it perceived that it was not getting anywhere in negotiations with the government to end its monopoly in return for certain benefits.
The government and ATN negotiating teams had reached agreements on some crucial issues to liberalise the telecommunications sector which were then formatted into a draft memorandum of understanding for approval by the principals.
However, reports indicated that President Bharrat Jagdeo threw out the draft MOU because of the concessions contained and when ATN got wind of this, it moved to thwart the government's information and communications technology project, which hinges upon data liberalisation and would have seen a competing telecommunications network established. Since then the talks have been largely stalled.
The IDB has also said the ICT loan will not be pursued until there is an agreement on de-monopolisation.