DIGICEL Guyana has indicated that it hopes the National Assembly would hasten passage of the Telecommunications and the Public Utilities Commission (Amendment) Bills, which would allow for demonopolisation and liberalisation of the local telecoms sector. Digicel Guyana’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Mr. Gregory Dean, addressing members of the media yesterday at a press conference held at Digicel’s head office in Kingston, Georgetown, pointed out that the bills have been on the Parliamentary agenda for some time, and have been continuously deferred, pending discussions between the Government and the two major service providers – Digicel Guyana and the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GT&T).

He said Digicel Guyana has had very fruitful discussions with the Government; and based on reports in the media, the Government has also had fruitful talks with GT&T on this matter.
Therefore, the situation has reached the point at which things could be moved to the next stage, at which Digicel Guyana would expect to see the legislation in Parliament as early as possible, since liberalizing the sector would be beneficial to all consumers.

Dean assured that Digicel wholeheartedly supports the GT&T call for a level playing field in the telecommunications sector. He said Digicel Guyana has no difficulty or fear relative to operating on such a field, as a liberalised telecommunication sector would enable both companies to have equal opportunity to pursue any area of communication they desire to pursue; and Digicel remains anxious about this, because the company wants to improve and expand its services.

Dean maintained that Digicel has always ventilated its desire to become more than just a mobile phone company, since it wants to get involved with all of the other sectors besides providing additional services to businesses.

He said Digicel operates in a liberalised sector in all the other territories in which it has a presence, so liberalization on the local front would not be anything new to the company, even though it may be new to Guyana.

He said examination of the experiences of other Caribbean countries which have liberalized their telecommunications sector would reveal that huge benefits have accrued to consumers; so Digicel Guyana does not envision a different scenario obtaining in Guyana.

Cabinet Secretary Dr. Roger Luncheon disclosed at a recent media briefing that Government’s discussion with Atlantic Tele-Network (ATN), parent company of GT&T, on the related issues has been very fruitful, and further deliberations are expected. He informed that the bills had been put on hold to facilitate the conversation with ATN-GT&T.