Digicel Slams Guyana's GT&T Telecoms Monopoly, Calls for Liberalization

Dennis O'Brien, CEO of Irish-owned Caribbean mobile operator Digicel, has criticized the monopoly of international long distance calls by Guyana incumbent GT&T, prompting a sharp response from GT&T's CEO Joe Singh, local daily the Stabroek News reported.

In an interview with the newspaper last week, O'Brien said that telephony customers were being "ripped off for international calls."

'If you're a Digicel customer in Jamaica and you're a Digicel customer in Guyana, in Guyana you're paying 135% more than what you should be paying for an international call and that is because GT&T are making super profits from the people of Guyana and they won't give up their international monopoly," O'Brien was reported as saying.

O'Brien also said he believes that Guyana is one of the best locations in Latin America and the Caribbean for investment due to a "progressive government" and "reasonably good tax regime."

The Irish businessman said that telecoms liberalization could bring 10,000 jobs in the ICT sector alone.

In response, the Stabroek News quoted Singh as saying that O'Brien was "blissfully unaware that GT&T has consistently articulated its preparedness to work with [the] government to realize sector liberalization."

GT&T said in May this year that it is willing to enter into negotiations with the Guyana government to relinquish its exclusive control over international data and voice telephony services especially as its 20-year exclusivity license comes up for renewal.

In a letter to the country's President Bharrat Jagdeo, GT&T said in May that along with its parent, US-based Atlantic Tele-Network, it would also consider floating a 20% share of the company on Guyana's stock exchange.

However the Stabroek News reported Singh as saying that the prime minister, Samuel Hinds, has postponed meetings on two occasions due to a busy schedule.

GT&T's monopoly on the long distance voice and data telephony markets came under scrutiny after the Americas II fiber optic cable suffered damage in May.

As all of the country's long distance calls traditionally are routed through GT&T's network, as an emergency measure Digicel was granted an interim long distance license by Guyana's government to route communications from the country via satellite.

President Jagdeo has been one of the sharpest critics of the GT&T monopoly, which he has said has been an obstacle to the country's economic growth, the newspaper reported.

Singh also reportedly shot back at O'Brien's accusations that it was ripping off customers by saying that the high international calling rates were used to subsidize other communications services and said it was unfair to compare international calling rates in two countries as different as Guyana and Jamaica.

Posted to the site on 23rd October 2007