The prospect of increased competition from other companies, likely to come from a liberalised telecommunications sector, does not faze the Guyana Telephone Telegraph (GTT).
This was expressed by GTT’s Chief Executive Officer, Justin Nedd during a press conference on Tuesday. According to Nedd, the sector is to a large extent already liberalised; even if there is a monopoly on paper. “The reality is we have, on paper, exclusivity for international long distance. We’re not the only one that provides international long distance services. We have exclusivity of providing Internet and data services. We’re not the only one that provides it.”
He pointed out that they have exclusivity for land line services but are also not the only ones who provide such. According to Nedd, the service is not an economically feasible one for others to provide.
Nedd pointed out that in keeping with this degree of liberalisation, they have made efforts to lower costs and improve Internet service. The CEO said in 2014, the price for one megabyte per second was $9098.
“Today, you get five times the value for less than that. Am I concerned about liberalisation? We operate in a competitive space already. What liberalisation will do, in my belief, is level the playing field where we all either pay 45 per cent taxes or adhere by the same regulatory rules and I like our chances. Like I said, we have an awesome team.” “We have a mind-set of pushing for improved services. We are transitioning to a much more customer-oriented organisation. And in some cases, we have transitioned. So I would say in practical terms (liberalisation) is
GTT CEO Justin Nedd
already here,” he explained.
When asked exactly what was holding up the official liberalisation of the sector, Nedd would only reference the ongoing negotiations and the exchange of documents. An announcement was made in June that a new timeline of year end would be set for the liberalisation of the sector.
In January of 2018, it was reported that negotiations with the GTT and the Ministry to address the lifting of the monopoly were effective. These negotiations began in 2016, where the intention of ending the 26-year-old monopoly on the fixed line market was discussed. The liberalisation, once in place, would ensure there is fair competition and regulation among all enterprises in the business sector.
The liberalisation of the sector is heavily dependent on the settlement of a US$44 million tax claim against GTT. Atlantic Tele Network, GTT’s parent company, makes mention of this in its Quarterly filings to the United States Securities and
GTT headquarters
Exchange Commission… including a sum of US$5 million for an adverse decision against the telecoms giant.
“GT&T is also involved in several legal claims regarding its tax filings with the Guyana Revenue Authority dating back to 1991 regarding the deductibility of intercompany advisory fees as well as other tax assessments,” the report states.
“The company maintains that any liability GTT might be found to have with respect to the disputed tax assessments, totalling $44.1 million, would be offset in part by the amounts necessary to ensure that GTT’s return on investment was no less than 15 per cent per annum for the relevant periods. The company believes that some adverse outcome is probable and has accordingly accrued $5.0 million as of June 30, 2018 for these matters.”
