GT&T challenges licence to Digicel
Guyana Chronicle
May 11, 2007
THE Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company Limited (GT&T) has challenged the decision by Prime Minister Samuel Hinds to grant temporary permission to Digicel to operate in routing international calls in and out of Guyana.
The company, in a statement yesterday, said it was “never contacted, consulted, or given a hearing” before the directive from the Prime Minister was issued.
GT&T said it was also not provided with “neither notice nor an opportunity to be heard”, and as such is rejecting as invalid the Prime Minister’s attempt to invoke national security concerns to justify his unprecedented action.
The company also claimed that it was served with court proceedings by Digicel and declared that it intends to be represented in those proceedings. The company said it will also be filing proceedings challenging the Prime Minister’s “unilateral decision”.
Pointing to a communications crisis and the likelihood of security concerns arising with the damage to the Americas 11 cable, the government on Wednesday granted temporary permission to Digicel to operate to route international calls in and out of Guyana.
The Prime Minster said that while GT&T has put in place adequate satellite redundancy to ensure no disruption of international communications, there continues to be significant disruption of such services and there is uncertainty concerning the timing of the resumption of services through the cable.
GT&T said it received a letter from Prime Minister Hinds Wednesday indicating that U-Mobile Cellular Inc (U-MCI) had been directed by the Office of the Prime Minister to utilise its Kingston Earth Station to originate and terminate international traffic on its network.
“The directive, the Prime Minister claims, is informed by national security considerations consequent upon the cable damage,” GT&T said, adding that it has since written to the Prime Minister “to express our disagreement with this course of action and our belief that the directive constitutes an abuse of the laws of Guyana and our legal rights”.
“As the Guyana people are aware, communications with the outside world continued to be possible after the cable was damaged. This has always been the case when the cable is down, although there always is the possibility that customers may have to dial the number repeatedly.”
Since this matter is engaging the attention of the court, GT&T said it “considers it appropriate to make no further comment at this stage”.
Internet, international data and voice services were affected when the Americas II cable developed a fault at 05:45h Sunday in the ocean off French Guiana.
“Since the gravity of the fault became known, the government has been seriously concerned about the potential grave negative consequences on Guyana’s economy and on the lives of the citizenry, while recognising that there may be the likelihood of national security concerns arising,” Mr. Hinds had stated in his letter to GT&T on Wednesday.
Digicel has been granted interim permission to utilise the Earth Station for the purpose of providing international traffic until such time as the international communications capacity via the Americas 11 cable is fully restored.
“Government expects that this effort will provide some relief to the current communications crisis facing Guyana”, the Prime Minister stated.
Digicel has since welcomed the move by the government saying “the government’s speedy response means that Digicel can assist in alleviating the current crisis to communications services by temporarily routing international traffic originating and terminating on the Digicel network. “
Digicel said since the Americas II cable was damaged Sunday morning, the people of Guyana have been experiencing difficulties making and receiving international calls.
“As GT&T has the sole international licence, Digicel has been forced to route all international traffic through GT&T,” Digicel noted.
Digicel Chief Executive Officer Tim Bahrani said “Digicel welcomes the government’s move in granting Digicel a temporary international licence to help alleviate the disruption customers are experiencing in making international calls.”
“Digicel can now help to resolve this disruption by routing international calls over the Digicel network to ensure that the people of Guyana continue to have access to a world-class, reliable mobile service. We are happy to assist the country in this time of need,” Bahrani added.
GT&T on Monday said it was making a significant investment to bring some relief to customers affected by the disruption from Sunday of the Americas 11 cable, which affected Internet, international data and voice services.
The company, in a statement, said it is acquiring, at a cost, additional redundant satellite facilities from Intelsat and had begun installing equipment at Beterverwagting, East Coast Demerara to prepare the physical network to accommodate these facilities.
This is the third time in four years that damage off Cayenne has affected Guyanese customers, GT&T said, adding that customers in Suriname have been similarly affected.