Liberalisation of telecommunications sector long overdue
CHIEF Executive Officer (CEO) of Digicel, Mr. Gregory Dean said, Tuesday, that liberalisation of the telecommunications sector in Guyana is “long overdue.”
It would propel the company into further investments to expand coverage and roll out new products and services at reduced rates, he told the Guyana Chronicle in an interview. “We believe that there could be significant benefits to customers in Guyana. We believe that the initial benefit will come in terms of significantly lower international rates. We also see benefits in terms of further expansion of coverage in Guyana and also in terms of technology.
“We think it should have been done a long time ago and we are looking forward to it being done as soon as possible, where everyone is on a level playing field,” he offered.
The Telecommunications Bill and the related Public Utilities Commission Bill were debated in Parliament and sent to a special select committee, prior to their anticipated passage to facilitate the liberalising of the sector.
Dean said the main hindrance is the monopoly “which has restricted us from making significant investment, [such as] going to a 3G or 4G network, but the company continues to make the best of a bad situation.”
He pointed out that Digicel has a 97 per cent coverage of the country’s population and has, to date, invested more than US$65M in Guyana since it took over U-Mobile in early 2007.
Dean hopes the utility will have further coverage of the population, once the efforts to liberalise the sector fructify.
Alluding to the new legislation, he said his company has submitted its comments to the Parliamentary Select Committee.
“We were consulted last year October for the first time and we submitted our response in early November. We were subsequently contacted for further comments before the bills went to Parliament. Like everything else, we have to wait and see how many of our comments have been taken on board in terms of the final [version] of the legislation that is passed,” he observed.
Dean said:“In terms of the rates which we feel would be the immediate impact, we don’t see any difference than what happens in the mobile sector. The effective rate before Digicel came into the market in 2007 was around $50 [per minute] for a domestic call. Now the effective rate for a call is in the 20s. So we see the same thing happening in the international sector. We think that there will be significant reduction in international rates but to put a percentage [on that reduction] will be difficult to say. A lot of that will come out of competition.”
About the new services that Digicel would be able to offer in a liberalised sector, he said one only has to see what is happening in the Caribbean, in terms of advancement of technology, to realise that the lack of  liberalisation is holding Guyana back.
“Some are going to 3G, some 3 and a half and some are considering 4G technology. I think, with a liberalised sector where all the players have a level playing field, I don’t see how Guyana could be left behind,” Dean said.
He said the problem with expansion is not so much Guyana’s small population but the size of the country and the terrain that is common in the hinterland regions.
“The terrain has been the main difficulty. You may have to go around a mountain when it stands in the way of the signal. But we are happy to take on the challenge,” said Dean, adding that the company has had to become innovative to take its service to some locations.
“We have been proactive, in terms of reaching out to all areas,” he said, noting that the company has built networks in Region One (Barima/Waini).
Dean said the 58 Miles area on the Mabura trail should be coming on stream towards the end of September or early October and there are three other sites that are going to come on stream, in Essequibo and Berbice.
“And we are looking at further sites, with a view to getting to them before Christmas,” he projected.