Liberalisation of telecoms sector awaits talks by GTT/GRA

The liberalisation of the telecommunication sector, which was expected to be completed by the end of July, has been stalled pending crucial discussions between the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) and the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GTT).

Telecommunications Minister Cathy Hughes disclosed on Thursday that telecommunications liberalisation is awaiting the completion of talks between the two bodies. She said part of the negotiations require that the GTT and GRA work out some tax issues, and the GRA remains an independent body over which she has no jurisdiction.
“I am certainly waiting patiently for them to finish that part of the negotiations,” she said.
She also said that the Atlantic Telecommunication Network (ATN) and GTT teams had held a meeting with the GRA, after which they had paid her a visit at her office.
“The tone of the discussion was just as I had hoped and wished. They are very confident that we are moving ahead, and I think we have seen already indication of GTT’s commitment to the Guyanese market,” the Minister explained.
She said she hopes that, at the end of those discussions, the liberalisation process would be speedily advanced. In the meantime, she said, the Telecommunications Ministry is designing and looking at job descriptions for the new telecommunications agency, which will become the new regulatory body through which persons applying for licences for spectrum and other areas have to pass.
The Finance Ministry’s Mid-Year Report had recently stated that negotiations with the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GTT) were expected to be completed by the end of the year, and thereafter the authority would be established.
The report also relayed that the requisite regulations have been published for comment.
The Telecommunications Bill was first introduced in 2011. When Government took the legislation before the National Assembly, the Opposition People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) had called for the Bill to be sent to a Special Select Committee for further consideration, but Minister Hughes had argued that the Bill had been long promised and was overdue.