Investors’ interest growing after liberalisation of telecoms sector – VP Jagdeo

PPP/C Govt telecoms liberalisation

– as new applications received, more expected to pour in

A week after the Government liberalised the telecommunications sector by issuing a commencement order for the Telecoms Act, the Government already has an application from a new company and expects more applications to come pouring in.
This was revealed by Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo, who was at the time participating in an interview with social media influencer Mikhail Rodrigues. According to Jagdeo, liberalisation brings with it greater competition in the sector.
He noted that existing service providers such as Guyana Telephone and Telegraph (GTT), Digicel and E-Networks, will now have to apply for the licences they did not previously have. Similarly, the Government has received a new application and is likely to see more applications, including for persons wishing to bring in sub-sea cables, as interest in the sector continues to grow.
“We’ve already had a new application. And we expect more applications from other people, to come in various sectors. Some with a full-fledged telecommunication company. And others with part services. So, we’ve already seen, in a few days, Digicel saying that they want to bring in a new sub-sea cable,” Jagdeo said.
“We might have five other persons who want to bring in sub-sea cables. And they will now have the permission to do so. What benefit does this bring for the country? It means greater bandwidth and cheaper bandwidth. The more bandwidth you have, the more sub-sea cable, the more redundancy, the lower the price for bandwidth and the greater the services you can deliver on this platform.”
Jagdeo cited GTT’s pronouncement that they want to deliver 5G services. He noted that this would mean more bandwidth and faster download speeds, as much as 10GB per second and reducing the need for an Internet Service Provider (ISP) for certain services.
“So you can then use your phone to do anything. The speed is so great, you can migrate that speed to other services. So, if you have a laptop and a WiFi at home through an ISP, you don’t need an ISP anymore.”

“On your laptop or tablet or any smart device, the speed would be enough to connect your laptop, without going through a hotspot in your home or bringing in a fibre cable or a modem. You can connect directly, at massive download speeds.
Prime Minister Phillips, who is the subject Minister with responsibility for Telecommunications, last week announced that Government had issued Commencement Orders, fully bringing into force the Telecommunications Act 2016 (the “Act”) and the Public Utilities Commission Act 2016. This was done less than three months after the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Government took office.
“It is anticipated that Guyanese will feel an immediate positive impact from the implementation of this legislation, which create a modern and competitive environment for telecommunications, and which will immediately result in greater choices, a better quality of service and lower prices for consumers,” the Prime Minister stated.
The former A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) Government had passed the Telecommunication (Amendment) Bill to liberalise the telecoms sector since 2016. They passed it with the stated intention of ending the monopoly which GTT has enjoyed.
Under the coalition Government, it was reported that the liberalisation of the sector was heavily dependent upon the settlement of a US$44 million tax claim against GTT by the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA).
According to reports, the local telecommunication giant wanted the tax debt settled before moving ahead with liberalisation. As such, the former Government failed to bring into force the Act that they themselves passed.
During the interview with Rodrigues, however, Jagdeo hinted that there were more sinister reasons for the former Government not bringing the Act into force.
Nevertheless, following the announcement by the PPP/C Government, Digicel, the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GTT) and E-Networks received their operational licences and accompanying documents from Prime Minister Phillips.