Fully liberalised telecommunication sector by first quarter 2018

Budget 2018 debate

– Minister Hughes

Public Telecommunications Minister Cathy Hughes said the liberalisation of the telecommunications sector would be realised by the first quarter of 2018 while adding that the Government is seeking to introduce a number of legislations to advance the ICT sector.

In her 2018 Budget debate presentation, Minister Hughes said negotiations for the liberalisation of the sector are currently ongoing with ATT and GTT, adding that they are yet to sign the agreement. She said her Ministry is in the process of establishing a telecommunications agency in keeping with the Telecommunications Act of 2016. Liberalisation of the sector would see an end to uneven competition and ensure fair and even regulation of all businesses in the sector.
“We are moving ahead with the creation of our telecommunications agency which comes under the Ministry and this is a part of our liberalisation process. Already for that agency we have created the structure and a range of deliverables and we are down to start before the end of the first quarter and as I have said before we have not signed off on our liberalisation agreement between ATT and GTT but we are making good progress,” she informed.
In addition, the parliamentarian said her Ministry is working on the development of a National ICT strategy, which is now in its consultation phase. She added that new legislation is important to the ICT sector to ensure the protection of intellectual property.
“New legislation is very important to this sector. Intellectual property protection, we want to ensure that Guyana is able to put itself where it can provide security to any off shore or local provider who wants to know that their intellectual knowledge is protected… Other legislation we are working on in 2018 includes the ecommerce and e-transaction legislation and the cybersecurity legislation,” the Minister added.
Minister Hughes said that although 2017 have proven to be a hectic year, the Government is far from being tired, adding that they are focused on delivering their mandate. She added that the Public Telecommunications Ministry is moving forward having already achieved almost all of their benchmarks for 2017.
She noted that her Ministry has been leading the way in establishing a number of ICT hubs across the country, including the hinterland regions.
Minister Hughes highlighted that her agency has been instrumental in establishing several ICT hubs in the hinterland regions, while accusing the Opposition of peddling “fake news” when they claim that the hinterland gap is not catered for.
“It is important to note that contrary to the fake news disseminated by my misinformed honourable colleague MP Pauline Sukhai at a recent press conference – places like Masakanari have never had Internet connectivity before …never… so this is not some recycled failed PPP project,” Hughes stated.
“That the honourable member (Gillian) Burton would come to the House and dare to criticise the pace of ICT development to the hinterland is a travesty. Mr Speaker, today we pay a premium price to connect these regions… that is our commitment. The PPP’s commitment was to build a fibre instead our Indigenous residents and all of us saw over $1B go down the drain. Nothing but damaged cable to show. Where did those billion dollars go?” she questioned.
This year’s budget provides $50 million for improved solar solutions for the ICT hubs in hinterland areas, $15 million to procure more fibre optic cable, $16 million for more internet access points and $20 million for power redundancy at the data centre.