THE Public Telecommunications Ministry continues to negotiate with the Guyana Telephone Telegraph Company (GTT) on the company’s monopoly over international voice and data transmissions, as well as domestic wire line service.

At a press conference on Thursday, subject minister Catherine Hughes told reporters that “It is a process, it does take time”, while noting that the most important thing in the process was the passage of the Telecommunications Bill, which allows for other entities to enter the market.

She hopes that negotiations with ATN and GTT can conclude in July, if not, she is optimistic that those negotiations will end during the last quarter of the year.

“We are working to a July timeframe, even if we miss it, I hope before we get into the final quarter of this year we would have created an environment where more players can come into the market,” the minister added.

Earlier this year, Minister Hughes had hoped that the negotiation between government and GTT and ATN would have concluded by May so that the sector could be fully liberalised.

With new players in the industry, competition rates will decrease significantly.
“We are actually now working on creating the new regulatory body, the telecommunications agency that will now manage this new environment,” said Hughes.

Meanwhile, the minister made it clear that while the sector has become liberalised; it must not be seen as a lack of support for GTT and mobile phone company Digicel. She explained that in some hinterland and remote communities there is very little access opportunities existing for the provision of many other services.

“We are grateful that both GTT and Digicel have played an exceptional role in our telecommunications industry and we could not be doing what we are doing now, without the ground work that they have done.”

Additionally, Minister Hughes stressed the need to continue partnering with the two telecommunication companies to provide more opportunities to citizens.
Thus far, there have been two verbal enquiries from persons who have an interest in entering the local market but Minister Hughes made it clear that those enquiries are merely speculative.

“We will get a clear idea when we put the legislation into operation.”

The Telecommunications Bill was first introduced in 2011.However, it was revised in 2013 before being sent to Parliamentary Special Select Committee in the 10th Parliament, and was near conclusion when that Parliament was prorogued in 2014 by the then President, Donald Ramotar.

When it was taken before the National Assembly by the Government, the opposition People’s Progressive Party (PPP) had called for the bill to be sent to a Special Select Committee for further consideration, but Minister Hughes had argued that the bill had been long promised and was overdue.

The sector, she emphasised, must be an opened one, so that the country can progress and not lag behind its sister Caricom countries and the rest of the world.
The new legislation provides for the fostering of an opened, competitive telecoms sector in which investors will be attracted, and in which a fair, competitive environment for sector participants is created.