World Dialogue on Regulation

According to a report from the BBC, Guyana has begun to liberalise its telecommunications sector with the start-up of a new mobile service.

The mobile operator, Cel*Star Guyana was launched on November 19. The launch marked the end of Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company’s (GT&T) monopoly. GT&T continues to be the monopoly provider of fixed lines. However, President Bharrat Jagdeo promised that he would do everything necessary to fully liberalise the sector.

"Today we are celebrating competition in the cellular sector, but I am hoping that very soon we would be able to have competition in every area, including the international calls, because that is vital to bringing down the rates and offering a better service," Jagdeo said.

Jagdeo complained that the cost of GT&T's telephone service is unaffordable and that the service is poor, resulting in lost business opportunities for Guyana.

"Many of you here do not know how much business we lose out on, as a country and as a people, because of poor telecommunications. A whole range of IT-related services are there for us to grab to create jobs for our people, but we cannot do it because of the poor quality and the cost of telecommunications in Guyana, and we need to aggressively pursue opening up (the sector)," Jagdeo said.

Cel*Star's service is expected to be fully operational starting December 11 after a testing phase beginning next week.

Investors, who have so far contributed US$ 37 million to the company, are not happy with interconnection delays with GT&T which have hampered Cel*Star's mobile roaming service, and with delays by the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) in approving its rate structure.

Intelecon Research & Consultancy Ltd. 22/11/2004