–Min Hughes promises telecommunications sector

THE full liberalisation of the country’s telecommunications sector is expected to occur by the end of this year, Public Telecommunications Minister Catherine Hughes told reporters Monday.

“The only date I would like to say, is that it would happen before 2018, which is long before 2020,” she said.
“But there are so many issues that have nothing to do with my ministry. This is not just switching on a switch; GTT has had a contract since 1991. There are all kinds of issues including tax issues that have to be addressed that go back to 1991,” she said in response to questions posed by the Guyana Chronicle on the sidelines of the opening of the Kitty Roundabout.

Late last year, Minister Hughes had expressed hope before her colleagues in the National Assembly that the sector would be fully liberalised by the first quarter of 2018.
The minister was asked at the time by this newspaper to provide a new timeline on the liberalisation, which is the subject of negotiations among the government and the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GTT) and its parent company Atlantic Tele Network (ATN).

She explained that her ministry is doing what it can to facilitate the full liberalisation of the sector, but it must be understood that there are matters outside of her reach.
“I could only push and continue to push as hard. I am making that public commitment that I am doing that,” she’d declared, noting that on a daily basis as she travels across the country, she is greeted by a plethora of complaints and dissatisfaction about telecommunication service received by citizens.

“I was in Berbice on Saturday and Friday, and every day I travel this country, I meet people who have not had phone lines for the last 30 years.
“It is not since 2015; it is the last 30 years, and I am happy that we are making slow progress. But yes, I am the first to say we need to move faster,” said Hughes, who stressed the importance of liberalisation.

She called on members of the private sector to capitalise on “the great opportunity” which exists to provide service to citizens across the country, as the telecommunications legislation allows private sector persons to start a business and provide service in the “exciting digital age”.

“Consumers must have a choice; they can’t just have one service provider. We have two in terms of mobile, and as you know, in the land lines, we have to do better.
So I am well aware of the challenges; I am the first to explain that, so the only thing I will say right now is before the end of 2018,” Hughes told reporters.

Back in December 2017, she had told the National Assembly that the full liberalisation of the telecommunications sector would not be achieved then, as negotiations between the government and ATN were not complete.
During her 2018 budget debate presentation, Hughes said her ministry was working on a number of preparatory activities for the commencement of the new regulatory regime, given the passage of the Telecommunications Act 2016.

The Public Telecommunication Ministry and the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) have been negotiating with GTT and ATN with the aim of ending GTT’s claim to a monopoly over international voice and data transmissions and domestic wireline service.
Hughes had said there are two main areas to be focused on, pointing to the ATN negotiations and preparing the regulations which will be managed by the telecommunications agency.

“Preparations for this new agency are moving apace, but as I said before, its ‘birth’ will come about when the negotiations come to a close with Atlantic Tele Network Incorporated, the parent of GTT. To date, we have completed the agency’s structure, job descriptions, financial regulations, staff manual administrative procedures for commencement in the first quarter in 2018,” the minister said in December.

Last October, the government had announced that Cabinet granted approval for the establishment of the Guyana Telecommunications Agency and the commencement of the Telecommunications Act 2016.

The establishment of the agency is the first of two phases that would allow for the full implementation of the Telecommunications Act.