GT&T to challenge PM's decision on Digicel overseas gateway
Stabroek News
May 11, 2007
The Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company Limited (GT&T) will be filing proceedings to challenge the decision by Prime Minister Samuel Hinds to allow U-Mobile Cellular Inc. (Digicel) to utilize its earth station to originate and terminate international traffic on its network.
In a statement issued yesterday, GT&T said that it disagreed with this course of action and believes that that the directive constitutes an abuse of the laws of Guyana and the company's legal rights. The telephone company said that "GT&T was never contacted, consulted, or given a hearing before the directive was issued", and was "provided with neither notice nor an opportunity to be heard". It said that the company rejects as invalid the Prime Minister's (PM) attempt to invoke national security considerations to justify his unprecedented action.
In the wake of the Sunday morning disruption of the Americas II Cable, which developed a fault in the Atlantic Ocean off French Guiana, and which according to reports, may take as long as 21 days to fix, the Government of Guyana granted interim permission to U-Mobile Cellular Inc (Digicel) to utilize its Earth Station for the purpose of providing international traffic originating and terminating on its network only until the cable is restored. Up to this point GT&T had held a monopoly on the international gateway and the recent fault in the Americas II Cable resulted in ongoing serious disruptions in international communications (voice, data and internet services) to and from Guyana.
A press release from the Office of the Prime Minister on Wednesday said that Government expects that this effort will provide some relief to the current communications crisis facing Guyana. "Government also expects that all efforts would be made to restore service via the Cable at the earliest," the release had said.
GT&T however, yesterday said that communication with the outside world continued to be possible after the cable was damaged adding that "this has always been the case when the cable is down, although there is always the possibility that customers may have to dial the number repeatedly".
The release noted that GT&T has been served with court proceedings by Digicel and intends to be represented in those proceedings and will also file proceedings challenging the PM's decision.
GT&T stated that it has since written the PM to express its disagreement with the action taken adding that since the matter is engaging the attention of the court, the company considers it appropriate to make no further comment at this stage.
Recently, in the wake of the disruption of the cable, Digicel had called for the liberalization of the mobile communications market and for the granting of an international licence to route international calls to Guyana. Digicel CEO Tim Bahrani had stated that Guyana needed to build on the successes of hosting the Cricket World Cup and the Rio Group Meeting and called for the liberalizing of all existing monopolies in the telecommunications sector.
The company had said that it was ready to make a considerable investment in developing an alternative solution to the Americas 11 cable, so that the disruption in service does not isolate Guyana from the international community. Digicel lamented the fact that all communications providers were forced to route their international calls through GT&T.
In another press release on Wednesday, Digicel said that the Government's speedy response means that the company can assist in alleviating the current crisis in communications services by temporarily routing international traffic originating and terminating on it's network.
The release from the Office of the PM had cited national security concerns and the timing of the resumption of service via the cable as the reason for granting Digicel permission to rout international calls on its network. "Since the gravity of the fault became known, the Government has been seriously concerned about the potential grave negative consequences on Guyana's economy and on the lives of the citizenry, while recognizing that there may be the likelihood of national security concerns arising," the release had said.