Liberalisation of telecoms sector remains in limbo

ꟷ Jagdeo says “secret MoU” signed between Govt, GTT cause for concern

After many years of delay and assurances by the A Partnership for National Unity and Alliance for Change (APNU/AFC) Government that Guyanese would benefit from a liberalised telecommunications sector, its realisation remains in limbo.
Liberalisation has been delayed for some time to cater for the ironing out of Guyana Telephone and Telegraph (GTT) approximately US$44 million in taxes owed to the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) and for other discussions.
Commenting on the issue, Opposition Leader Dr Bharrat Jagdeo recalled that the Government and telephone company signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on March 6, 2019, signifying the beginning of the process of liberalisation but in the same breath, he stated that a “secret” MoU was later signed.
“What intrigued me a lot is that the Demerarawaves story said that GTT, which wanted a $US44M tax debt settled before moving ahead with liberalisation last year May, signed a secret MoU with Government, committing both sides to settle all outstanding issues. A secret MoU. So, we don’t know what’s there…”
Jagdeo explained that the Order for Liberalisation should have already been passed a long time ago.
“They promised to liberalise the sector. You would recall, we had the legislation read, both parties had promised this in the period before the elections and they are supposed to by now have a liberalised sector. The Order should have been issued etc.”
According to the Opposition Leader, if another MoU was signed after March 2019 between the Government and the GTT without public knowledge, then it leaves many questions to be answered.
“But now we hear about the secret MoU and the country should ask about that…so we should all ask about this issue…Where is this MoU that was signed secretly by the Government with the telecommunication company?”
In July 2016, the Government passed the Telecommunication (Amendment) Bill to liberalise the telecoms sector by ending the monopoly which the Guyana Telephone Telegraph (GTT) had enjoyed for over 25 years.
Meanwhile, Digicel recently made a public claim that Guyanese people have been exposed to poor choice of services in the telecommunications field.
“Guyanese have been left with an extremely limited choice of services; Poor broadband coverage – a shameful 90 per cent of Guyanese still have no access to broadband services at home; Poor quality of services – even when they do have access to services, speeds are slow and unreliable; Poor response time – any issues are resolved at a snail’s pace,” it had said.
According to the media statement made by Digicel (Guyana) Communications Manager Vidya Sanichara, “The stakes couldn’t be higher. Bringing Guyana’s communications into the 21st century won’t just improve lives, it’s essential to developing the economy – especially now that oil production has begun with the first million barrels recently sold. As things stand, Guyana’s communication services are nowhere near ready to take full advantage of this development.”
Digicel Guyana had launched a petition #LiberalisationNOW in light of the loth in the liberalisation process. This petition has been receiving massive traction and to date, has managed to secure the signatures of over 4000 Guyanese, who declared themselves fed up with poor telecommunication services.