HEAD of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr. Roger Luncheon, yesterday informed media operatives that the government has expressed a desire to the National Assembly to not pursue the second reading of the Telecommunication Amendment Bill (2012) and the Public Utility Commission’s Amendment Bill (2012).

He made this disclosure during his weekly post-cabinet media briefing at the Office of the President.
Luncheon noted that the administration and the telecommunication service providers have heightened their engagements on reform in the sector.
“The occasion has been the opportunity provided by the legislative attention on reform of the sector. As you know, two important pieces of legislation are being considered by Parliament, the Telecommunication Amendment Bill 2012, and the Public Utility Commission’s Amendment Bill 2012,” he stated.
He further revealed that bilateral negotiations with the two telecommunication service providers, the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GT&T) and Digicel Guyana, have started and will continue.
These negotiations on liberalisation, he said, including de-monopolisation, will be the focus of the current engagements.
“On that basis, the governing party has informed the House of its desire not to pursue the second reading of those two pieces of legislation…” he noted.
According to the Cabinet Secretary, the administration has also informed the telecommunication service providers of its intention.
Additionally, he noted that the expectations are that the National Assembly would take appropriate notice and act accordingly.
He said further that for Digicel, it is about the de-monopolisation to remove the feature in the telecommunications sector, that is a monopoly on international calls.
“What Digicel has essentially said, and we do agree on that point, is that the monopoly has been indeed a brake on our economic development and on the development in the sector itself. So we see eye to eye on that. So other than smaller matters, that’s their most important beef,” Luncheon stated.
In addition, he pointed out that issues with GT&T are most notably contractual disputes. He said that there has been a contract since the year 1990 that must be honoured.
Nevertheless, he said that GT&T has indicated its willingness to discuss these issues with stakeholders to plan for liberalisation, including the deemed monopolisation.