Telecoms Bill to be tabled by May month-end – Minister Hughes

The long-awaited Telecommunications Bill will soon be tabled in the National Assembly. This comes after months of consultations with many of the relevant stakeholders.
In a recent interview, Public Telecommunications Minister Cathy Hughes related to the Government Information Agency (GINA) that the date was still being finalised and should be completed before May 31.
“There were extensive discussions, so what we want to do is to bring the legislation to the Parliament as soon as we can, and we are

working on that. I do not have a date yet, but I would envision it would be probably before the end of May,” Hughes pointed out.
Once this Bill is passed, it is expected that it will specifically address the expansion of telecommunications services to remote areas. The Minister, however, pointed out that final adjustments were being made to the Bill by way of consultations with telecoms companies GTT and Digicel Guyana.
It was noted that passage of the Bill would “allow Guyanese the opportunity to enjoy better telecommunications services, and wider and faster Internet bandwidth”. Hughes also noted that the Public Telecommunications Ministry was working with the telecommunications service providers to deliver enhanced services for visitors for the Jubilee celebrations. The Minister also told GINA that many people have already indicated that they were coming to celebrate Guyana’s 50th independence anniversary, so there is a need to make them comfortable.
“We are working with the telecommunications companies to ensure that visitors are able to use their phones and will be able to have the technical support that they require,” she added.
It was further posited that the Bill is being crafted to “build a competitive system in the telecommunications sector, and is expected to result in greater choice, better quality of service and lower prices for consumers”. To this end, it will provide for “an open, liberalised sector that will attract new markets and investors”.
The Telecommunications Bill was introduced in 2011 and revised in 2013 in the 10th Parliament. In 2015, Government had given approval for two legal consultants to be hired to fine-tune and make adjustments to the Bill.