– says PPP/C did little to bridge the digital divide
Former Minister of Public Telecommunications, Catherine Hughes while the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) is taking full credit for the liberalisation of the Telecommunications Sector, it was the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) Government that did 95-per cent of the groundwork.
“One of the things that we did, we had a very detailed consultancy that looked at the issue of spectrum, how the spectrum would be allocated, how it will be charged; and I say that because 95 per cent of the ground work, we ensured that we did over those four short years,” Hughes said on Tuesday.
At the time she was speaking during a programme aired live on APNU+AFC’s Facebook page. It was explained that while the Telecommunications Bill was first laid in the National Assembly by the PPP/C Government in 2011, and again in the 10th Parliament in 2012, it was not until 2016 in the 11th Parliament that the Telecommunications Bill was successfully passed by the APNU+AFC Government. Though it had signaled its support for the Bill, the PPP/C, while in Opposition, had lobbied for the Bill to be sent back to a Special Select Committee.
Hughes was keen on noting that it was the Ministry of Public Telecommunications that had spearheaded the passage of the bill, six months after it was established in January, 2016. However, though passed, the entire Act was not brought into effect, but allowed for the creation of the Telecommunications Agency, which effectively replaced the National Frequency Management Unit (NFMU).
Hughes said notwithstanding the passage of the Telecommunications Bill, dismantling the aged old monopoly was among major issues that confronted the APNU+AFC Government at the time. She explained that GTT and its parent company, Atlantic Tele-Networks Inc. (ATNI), at the time had in existence a license with a lifespan of 10 years remaining.
“APNU+AFC Government, whether you like it or not, whether you disagreed with us or not felt that the sanctity of a contract was very, very important,” Hughes said while noting that it was critical to negotiate a settlement.
She said while unilateral termination could have been an option, it was an option that the APNU+AFC was not willing to explore due to the negative impacts it would have had.
“Because, you would have been in fact saying to the world that look we don’t honour the sanctity of a contract, and so we were very aware that the parent company of GTT, was a US company…In fact…I used to get regular visits from the US Ambassador, who would always remind me that Guyana did not want to be known across the globe as an investment destination that did not honour contracts, and therefore as I said, we tried to negotiate a settlement,” Hughes explained.
Such a negotiation, Hughes said, was no easy task. The PPP/C Government, in particular Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo has accused the former APNU+AFC Administration of inking a secret agreement with GTT but Hughes said it is a figment of his imagination, as she rubbished the allegation.
She said that it was after making headways on areas to be negotiated in 2019, that the Government and GTT came up with a draft settlement agreement, and thereafter signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). “I want people to understand that the monopoly holder assumed that if we ended the monopoly and they had another 10 years on their contract that it would be a loss to them in terms of potential earnings, which was guaranteed under that contract, so they came up with a figure, and believe it or not, we ensured that we had an independent assessment, an independent valuation of the value of this monopoly and when they came up with a figure…one our independent valuation showed that the value of that monopoly, of the earnings they would have gotten was really 10 per cent of the figure the company was quoting,” Hughes explained.
She said the APNU+AFC Government equipped itself with the requisite information to negotiate a fair deal for Guyana. While proposals were put forward by both the Government and GTT, the former Minister said it was important for Guyana to get the best deal.
“We wanted to ensure that Guyana got the best deal, so we were not interested in signing over anything without doing the requisite research and having the requisite consultancies and plans that were based on scientific documents that would guide how we move the sector forward,” she said, while iterating that there were long and hard negotiations.
Hughes emphasized that when the PPP/C Government entered Office on August 2, the groundwork had already been done, and clear plans were left in place.
Asked, why APNU+AFC Government felt short of liberalizing the sector, the former minister explained that the December, 2018 No-Confidence Motion had placed the government of the day in a difficult position, and that may have been a contributing factor.
“There was always a question of whether legally, we would be able to deliver this baby, to sign off on that contract, and of course on the other side, it would be understandable if ATNI itself felt that because of the No-Confidence Motion that maybe it would not have necessarily been in their best interest to finalise an agreement with the APNU+AFC,” she reasoned.
However, now that the sector has been liberated, the former minister is calling on the PPP/C Government to make public the terms of the agreement with GTT that, in part, was necessary to break the monopoly.
