GT&T Welcomes Rate Changes
Guyana's incumbent telephone operator, Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GT&T), has said it "welcomes" the fixing of rate ceilings and floors for mobile services by the country's regulator PUC, local daily Stabroek News reported.
GT&T said that the new rate parameters would give the company greater flexibility in setting its rates and "passing on savings" to its customers. Previously any rate adjustment first needed to be approved by the PUC.
On January 15 PUC ruled that Guyanese mobile operators could from February 16 fix rates as low as 7 Guyanese dollars (US$0.40) per minute and as high as 32 Guyanese dollars per minute, according to their various plans.
"In the past it sometimes took as many as three to four months to secure clearance from the PUC for rate adjustments in order to allow the company to make special offers to its customers," GT&T sales and marketing director Michael George said.
George dismissed rumors that the mobile industry is facing the prospect of a price war between GT&T and new Guyana entrant Caribbean mobile operator Digicel when the rate parameters go into effect on February 16.
Additionally, GT&T plans to use lower rates to entice its TDMA customers to switch to its GSM network. The company said it would maintain its TDMA service through 2008.
GT&T also plans to expand its mobile infrastructure in 2007, including the erection of a mobile tower to facilitate increased traffic ahead of the March Cricket World Cup."
Posted to the site on 31st January 2007
