…stakeholders invited to presentation on new regime today at GICC, Liliendaal
The Government of Guyana is inviting all stakeholders to a presentation on the new Telecommunications Legal Regime, to be held at the International Conference Centre (GICC), Liliendaal, Greater Georgetown, beginning at 09:00 hrs today. Today’s forum comes on the eve of the submission to the National Assembly tomorrow, of  bills for a new Telecommunications Act, as well as accompanying consequential amendments to the Public Utilities Commission Act, paving the way for an open, liberalised, and competitive telecommunications sector for Guyana. 

The anticipated enactment of the new telecommunications legal regime is intended to bring about a wide range of benefits, resulting in significant improvements to telecommunications for the Guyanese public. It will, for example:

** attract new market entrants and investors, while preserving the activities of current sector participants,
* offer all Guyanese (both residential and business subscribers) greater choice, cheaper prices and higher quality telecommunications services, among other things.

NATURE OF THE SECTOR
The new Telecommunications Act and accompanying regulations promise much, and will create a framework for an open, competitive telecommunications sector, without exclusivity for any type of telecommunications network or service. In addition to attracting private investment, the new framework is expected to result in greater choice, better quality and lower prices for consumers.

To further Guyana’s social and economic development, the new framework also specifically addresses the expansion of telecommunications networks and telecommunications services into unserved and underserved areas and regions of the country, through institution of a new universal access/universal services programme.

Conversely, while competition in domestic mobile service has existed since 2000, since 1990 GT&T has held a monopoly on virtually all other telecommunications networks and services, including all international telecommunications. The sector has been characterized by high prices, inadequate quality and lack of choice for some services that are critical to economic and social development.

Giving a sneak preview into the very critical issues to be addressed at the Liliendaal consultation, Consultant, Ms. Geeta Ragubhir highlighted the following:

Clarity/suitability of the legal regime
The two principle laws that currently govern the sector — the Telecommunications Act 1990 and the Public Utilities Commission Act 1999 (PUCA) — are not harmonized with one another. In addition, the Telecommunications Act 1990 is arcane and difficult to apply, and many of the provisions of the PUCA are more appropriate to the regulation of monopolies, not an open, competitive telecommunications sector.

By contrast, the new Telecommunications Act (along with the seven initial sets of regulations to be issued under it and the consequential amendments to the PUCA) will create a clear, harmonized framework for the telecommunications sector similar to that found in other countries in the world, including most countries in the Caribbean.

The new framework is characterised by transparency and non-discrimination in the issuance and monitoring of licences and frequency authorizations, the interconnection of and access to telecommunications networks and services, and the implementation of a universal access/services programme, all to be administered in a competitively neutral manner with regulatory burdens imposed only where necessary to ensure a competitive environment and the integration of networks and services.

Competitive safeguards
The current regime does not distinguish between dominant and non-dominant telecommunications operators/service providers, and there are no clear rules for identifying or penalising anti-competitive behaviour or abuse of a dominant position. The new framework contains provisions for: (a) identifying and penalising anti-competitive behaviour by any telecommunications undertaking; and (b) designating which telecommunications undertakings are dominant or jointly dominant, and identifying and penalising abuses of such positions.

Regulatory institutions
The current regime provides for three regulatory institutions:  (a) a Director of Telecommunications, whose office has never functioned as envisioned in the existing Telecommunications Act; (b) the Public Utilities Commission (PUC), established in the PUCA; and (c) the National Frequency Management Unit (NFMU), established via a 1990 order to regulate the electromagnetic spectrum.  This arrangement will be replaced by two regulators, each with clearly delineated responsibilities and functions.  A new Telecommunications Agency (into which the NFMU will be incorporated), functioning under the subject Minister’s supervision, will be the new “technical” regulator responsible for regulating licensing, the spectrum, and other technical aspects of the sector and for administering the universal access/universal services programme. The PUC will continue to function as the economic regulator of the sector, with responsibility for ensuring a competitive environment, interconnection and access between and among operators and service providers, and consumer rights and regulating prices in certain instances.

Licensing and frequency authorisation regime
The current legal regime does not provide uniform standards for licences to operate telecommunications networks and/or provide telecommunications service or permits to utilise the spectrum, making it difficult to achieve a level playing field for all sector participants. The new licensing and frequency authorisation regime is based upon well defined, transparent, non- discriminatory provisions and is manifested by “Model Licenses” and “Model Frequency Authorisation.”  Any variations in the licenses and frequency authorisations issued will arise only where there are differences in the type and nature of the networks and/or services to be provided or the uses to which the spectrum will be put. In addition, the new framework provides the flexibility to lessen the regulatory burden on minor players in the sector, by providing for “class” licences as to some services (e.g., “value-added” services) as well as exemptions from the licensing requirement.

Needed regularisation of small operators/service providers
Currently, several small operators and service providers that are primarily internet service providers (ISPs) have not obtained licences under the existing Telecommunications Act, nor do they have clear authorisations for their use of the spectrum.  As a result, regulatory control of their activities is difficult, and as unlicensed entities, they have difficulty in securing financing for the expansion of their networks and service offerings. At the time the new framework goes into effect, all existing operators and service providers — large (GT&T and Digicel) and small (the currently unlicensed ISPs) — will be issued clear, standardized licenses and frequency authorisations, and will become subject to regulation under the new framework.

Interconnection and access
Neither the PUCA nor the 1990 Telecommunications Act specifically addresses interconnection and access to networks, services, and facilities among competing operators and service providers, and therefore, it does not provide the most basic conditions needed to ensure the integrated functioning of the Guyana telecommunications sector.  The new framework creates a comprehensive, detailed and enforceable set of rules for interconnection and access between and among operators and service providers. For example, telecommunications operators will be obliged to provide interconnection and access, and the PUC will be required to mandate the terms of interconnection and access if operators and service providers do not themselves reach agreement on terms within specified time limits.

Regulation of prices
Under the current PUCA, the PUC regulates all prices charged for telecommunications services. The new regime, however, adopts the internationally-recognized principle that prices are set by the marketplace, and the PUC will regulate only the prices charged by service providers that are capable of controlling the market (either alone or jointly with another service provider) or that engage in anti-competitive conduct.

Regulation of the spectrum
Under existing law (the 1990 NFMU Order and the 1947 Posts & Telegraph Act), the NFMU’s authority to manage the use of the spectrum is unclear. The new Telecommunications Act and its regulations set out, in clear and unambiguous language, the authority of the new Agency to regulate the use of spectrum and the installation and operation of radio-communication equipment.

Telecommunications in unserved/underserved areas and the hinterlands
Currently, the obligations of the incumbent licensees — GT&T and Digicel — to provide telecommunications networks and services in unserved/underserved areas are ill-defined, and residents in those areas have been largely dependent upon those companies’ willingness to extend networks and services to them. Under the new Telecommunications Act, all operators and service providers will be required to contribute annually to a Universality Fund, which will be used to subsidize projects in unserved/underserved areas. The Minister may also impose universal access/universal services obligations upon licensees, either in their licences or by order.

Orderly planning of telecommunications sector development
Today there is no mechanism in place for the government to obtain the information necessary to plan the effective development of the telecommunications sector vital to Guyana’s social and economic progress.  The new regime obligates all operators and service providers to provide the Agency with the information on their existing and planned networks and services necessary for meaningful sector planning.