BEGINNING February 1, 2019, consumers utilising the Guyana Telephone & Telegraph Company’s (GTTs) landline services for the first time will have to pay a fixed monthly charge to utilise the call-blocking service.

This was announced on Wednesday by the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) which stated that the residential consumers will pay a fixed monthly charge of $30 while commercial consumers will pay $70.

The Guyana Consumer Association (GCA) fought sternly against the tariff introduction first petition by GTT to stand at a monthly rate of $310 but although a tariff was granted, it was significantly reduced.

The Commission’s order was officially signed on November 16, 2018, by Chairperson of the PUC, Dela Britton. After submitting its initial request on September 6, 2018 for the change, the company along with the GCA and PUC had attended a number of hearings to debate the application for a rate.

In presenting its case, GTT has stated that although it applied and was successful with previous applications for rates adjustments for several of its landline value-added services, it had not requested adjustments to the Subscriber Activated Call Blocking Feature.
GTT argued that the value-added call blocking service has been utilised by consumers for years with some 36,368 consumers currently accessing the service free of charge.

In its submission to the PUC, it stated: “This is a value-added service that provides convenience for the customer, as he or she is able to moderate the usage of the wireline where more than one person has access to that device. This is not a service that the customer must have to use the wireline service. Similar to the other feature service for which GTT currently charges approved rates, it is a service of convenience that adds value to having and using the wireline service.”

Added to this, the company claims that it pays a recurring cost of some US$250,000 for the maintenance and upkeep of the service and is considering a further US$300,000 upgrade of the system.

Meanwhile, it posited that the monthly rate of $310 sought represents a point between the lower and upper extremities of past PUC approved rates for value added services.
The GCA had rebutted that the recurring operating cost, stated as US$250,000, in continuing the call blocking feature is unlikely to increase but in fact would provide a “free cash flow to the company”.

It debated, too, that if charges were to be approved by the Commission, it should be user-based. “GTT’s new rates are subscription-based and not use-based. This implies that the consumer or customer must pay GTT a rate for which he may not be enjoying the service at all. For example, the telephone service could be disrupted for numerous reasons – GTT’s failure to effectuate repairs; force majeure; an accident to the transmission pole and so on. To avoid the consumer being exploited, charges, whatever they may be, must be use-based,” the company’s president, Pat Dial, had stated.

Taking this into consideration, the PUC ordered that where the Public Switch Telephone Network (PSTN) fails, consumers’ accounts are to be credited for the number of days the consumers are unable to access any of the value-added services/features offered.

The features of the call blocking service will allow customers to deny all outgoing calls to those without possession of an Identification Number (PIN) except for emergencies GTT Help Lines and Phone Card access; out of exchange calls; cellular calls; International Direct Dialed (IDD) calls or Operator Assisted International Calls. While GTT had introduced its own packages of which call features could be blocked simultaneously, the PUC instead stipulated that the consumer will have the option of choosing any number of the features at the tariff as set by the Commission.

In addition, the PUC has ordered that GTT “shall embark upon a sensitization exercise for its consumers regarding the impending tariff, the implementation date and the option(s) available to the consumers”.