– referred to a Special Select Committee for fine tuning before it is passed
PARLIAMENT yesterday unanimously agreed to expedite the passing of an amended Telecommunications Bill by early January 2014, latest.

Speakers on both sides of the House expressed desire for the Bill to be expedited because of the several benefits that liberalisation of the sector would bring for consumers.
They did so during the second reading of the Bill by Prime Minister Samuel Hinds.
During his presentation, Prime Minister Hinds told the House that the aim of the Bill was to provide for the establishment of a Telecommunications Agency and for a regular, coordinated, open and competitive telecommunications sector.
This Bill, he said, will allow for Guyana to be placed at last in the league of nations with modern legislation in the area of provision of telecommunication services.
“It will move Guyana from a nation with a monopoly provider in a wire-line and international services to one where free and fair competition in all segments of service provision is allowed.”
He described it as a landmark legislation for Guyana.
Prime Minister Hinds noted that the Bill has been long in the making, the basic text being put before the House in 2011 during the sittings of the ninth Parliament.
Further readings were deferred from time to time at the request of the Government’s side in order to allow for full consultations and discussions with the major players in the sector so as to ensure that there could be acquired a new law that is practical, realistic and provides the template for a regime that can most effectively foster and regulate a fully open sector and provides for fair competition.
He stressed that the new legal regime draws particularly from laws and experiences in sister Caribbean countries including Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica and the OECS countries.
It also took into consideration “international best practices” and tried and tested regimes.
He said that it will create the framework for an open, competitive sector without exclusivity for any type of telecommunications network or service.
It will address the expansion of telecommunication networks and services into unserved and underserved areas and regions of Guyana.
It will also serve to regularise and rationalise growth in internet based services that are blossoming in Guyana.
A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) MP Carl Greenidge agreed with the intent of the Bill but noted that there were a number of areas which needed to be addressed in more depth to ensure that its implementation is effective.
He said the Bill, in its current form, gave too much discretionary powers to the Minister with no protection against discrimination against stakeholders.
Greenidge said that the bureaucracy and the relevant skills needed for the bureaucracy which the Bill entails was another area that needed to be further explored.
Alliance for Change (AFC) Member of Parliament Trevor Williams agreed with the benefits that the liberalisation and opening-up of the sector would bring to Guyanese consumers.
He said consumers had already begun to benefit from limited competition with the establishment of DIGICEL.
Prime Minister Hinds also reiterated that the Government would be extremely happy if it can, by virtue of passing the Bill, give the people of Guyana an open telecommunications sector by the first week in January 2014.
Following discussions it was agreed that because of the complexity of the Bill that it should be referred to a Special Select Committee for fine tuning before it is passed.
Parliament also deferred to the same Special Select Committee a number of amendments to the Telecommunications Bill 2012, proposed by Prime Minister Hinds.

(By Clifford Stanley)