This follows an announcement by Minister of Finance, Saisnarine Kowlessar in his presentation of the 2003 national budget on Friday at the Ocean View International Convention Centre, Liliendaal, East Coast Demerara.

The Finance Minister said the surcharge is applicable "on all domestic telephone calls, regardless of whether such calls originate from a land line, cellular telephone or fax machine."

The Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GT&T), the country's lone telephone service provider, said in a release that it has been advised of proposals contained in the budget to introduce a consumption tax of 10 per cent on all domestic calls.

GT&T said it has "no alternative but to implement the decision of a national budget, and arrangements are being made to ensure that the appropriate collection is made on behalf of the Government."

But the company added, "it has become necessary, though, based on comments received by staff, to explain that it is a Government and not a GT&T decision. In fact, even as a sense of courtesy might have required some prior notification, the company was never advised of the imminent decision."

It said too, that out of concern for consumers, the company has actually been seeking to cushion any burden on them by identifying alternative means of revenue generation.

"The company does believe that the Government's revenue would be more effectively bolstered by controlling the enormous leakage caused by the bypass of the official network and by regularising the operations of illegal communication businesses," GT&T argued.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Sam Hinds, who has overall responsibility for communication, has been mandated to reconvene the Government's team to re-start exploratory discussions between the Guyana Government and Atlantic TeleNetwork (ATN), parent company of GT&T.

President Bharrat Jagdeo recently told reporters the Government is "very concerned" about a statement by ATN Chairman, Cornelius Prior that he did not have faith in negotiations that took place in Trinidad and Tobago, which had forced him to file an action against the Guyana Government.

The action sought to block a US$18M loan with which the Government proposes to develop an information and community technology project.

A United States court had early last month dismissed the claim, and it was as a result of the new development, that ATN indicated its interest in having the exploratory discussions restarted, the President said.

He noted that the initial discussions between the Government and ATN will determine "what will be the starting point."

This is not the first dispute that ATN, which has a monopoly with GT&T, has had with the Government over its attempt to open up the sector.

Meanwhile, the renowned telecommunication company, Cable and Wireless has indicated an interest to acquire the 80 per cent shareholding interest in GT&T held by ATN, in a move aimed at expanding its business operations across the Caribbean.

Representatives of Cable and Wireless had last year approached the Guyana Government to acquire the shares.