Barbados is liberalising its telecommunications market
Consumer Concerns
by Eileen Cox
Stabroek News
June 6, 2004
The months fly by and the advent of the Caricom Single Market and Economy (CSME) comes closer. The transition is not going to be without tears.
On Friday, May 28, The Institute of Development Studies of the University of Guyana hosted a Round Table Meeting on Current Negotiations/Proposals on Guyana's Trade in Services: The Insurance Sector. Delegates from insurance companies raised their concerns about the unevenness of the playing field. It is to be expected that consumers, wishing to invest money in life insurance, will choose companies in territories where money does not devalue as rapidly as our currency.
This is only one of the difficulties that we in Guyana will have to surmount. Certainly there will be some pluses, but heads have to be put together to overcome the obstacles that will prevent a smooth transition.
One of the areas of great concern to our consumers is the failure to establish competition in the telephone industry. Without affordable rates and the latest technology Guyana business and consumers will be left way behind in the region.
The recent announcement that the government has ordered Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GT&T) to stop all its work on a new cellular system may not induce the company to end their dog-in-the-manger attitude towards competitors. We have already seen that the request of another company to have cell-phones in Georgetown forced GT&T to lower their rates.
Another application has now forced the company to hasten 'hands over heels' to update their cell-phone technology before granting interconnection. We now wait for the next move by GT&T.
In the meantime, consumers must take note of these unfriendly actions and retaliate when the time comes. It was GT&T which plunged the whole country into a bad economic situation by exporting millions of Guyana dollars in 1991. It is GT&T which cannot grant telephone lines to residents in Georgetown much less to all residents countrywide.
Consumers must also become aware of what is taking place in other Caribbean territories. In Barbados there has been, in recent years, a combination of laws enacted for the benefit of consumers. Also, in Barbados, the liberalisation of the telecommunications sector has been announced. It is proposed that more than one telecommunications provider should offer telecommunications services to the public.
In a release distributed at the recent consumer conference in Barbados we learnt that the Barbados government intends to liberalise the telecommunications market in three phases, and ensure that it is done in an efficient and effective manner.
"Phase 1 will see other licensed companies providing:
* cellular or mobile phone services
* telephone sets (regular home phones, office phones and small PBXs) and inside wiring for phones connections;
* services such as call waiting, caller display and other types of value added services.
This Phase started on November 1, 2002
"Phase 2 will see competition in large PBXs and wireless home phone systems
"Phase 3 will see full liberalisation of the telecommunications market where all services, including domestic telephone services and international calls will be open to competition."
We hear that, because of the agreement which GT&T entered into with our government, the company is demanding a high price for ending its monopoly. We need experienced negotiators who will take into account all the concerns that consumers have expressed against GT&T. The matter of payment of advisory fees to the parent company, to our knowledge, has not yet been resolved; there has been no verification of the surcharge that GT&T imposed on consumers after the high court decision on off-peak rates. Phone cards, which the company described as a Milch Cow when making their proposal to introduce them, were introduced without permission of the Public Utilities Commission and, as far as we know, no permission has yet been granted for their use.
Mr Joseph Tyndall in the past and Mr Christopher Ram today will supply all the details that we need to know about GT&T's shortcomings.