Guyana passes landmark telecoms law

Guyana's parliament has passed a telecoms law that will effectively end the last telecoms monopoly in the English-speaking Caribbean.

The law is designed to liberalize the fixed line segment, promote competition and help drive down prices.

It will also create a new telecoms watchdog that will eclipse the National Frequency Management Unit (NFMU) and assume oversight of the sector in tandem with the Public Utilities Commission (PUC).

Getting the law passed has been a long and painful process. Guyana has been mulling new telecom legislation since 2011. The bill was revised in 2013 and again in 2015.

On Monday, the government coalition A Partnership for National Unity, Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) used its one-seat majority to successfully pass the bill by the minimum of 33-32 votes.

The bill underwent lengthy debate in the National Assembly on Monday.

Minister of Public Telecommunications, Catherine Hughes, that argued the legal provisions in the bill will foster a more competitive environment.

GT&T, which is controlled by Atlantic Tele-Network currently has a monopoly on the fixed line segment. In the mobile sector, GT&T only has competition from Digicel.

"This transition is long overdue, our telecommunications sector must be an open one so that Guyana could progress in this area of service provision and delivery, not lag behind other sister CARICOM countries and most of the rest of the world, Hughes said in a statement.

However, opposition members of parliament criticized the extra powers that will be given to the telecommunications minister.

Peoples Progressive Party (PPP) member, Joseph Hamilton questioned the government's ability to improve telecommunications, citing complaints about the quality of HSPA+ 4G mobile services that were launched by GT&T in capital Georgetown and surrounding areas in May.

He said that subscribers sometimes get "2G, 1G and no G" in Georgetown.