SUNS4371 Wednesday 10 February 1999

Caribbean: Freeing the Telecom Industry

Georgetown, Feb 8 (IPS/Bert Wilkinson) -- When Caribbean Community leaders met U.S. President Bill Clinton in Barbados in 1997, one of the deals they hammered out committed countries in the region to opening up their lucrative telecommunication services market.

At the time, the Clinton team seemed to have been quite concerned with prying open a billion-dollar market controlled mostly by the British-based Cable and Wireless (C & W).

Now, there are strong indications that C & W, which has for decades resisted attempts by governments to introduce competition may very soon be forced to the negotiating table by a new band of young and vibrant
political leaders determined to change the status quo.

Later this week, for instance, several of the small Eastern Caribbean countries will hold national consultations in an effort to win support for the effort to put an end to C & W's control.

"The issue is so important to governments that for the first time telecommunications will later this year be on the agenda of the leaders conference as a trade issue, something that brings in millions in revenues and something that could provide thousands of jobs,"says Jackie Wiltshire-Forde, Programme Manager at the Guyana-based Caribbean Community (Caricom) Secretariat. "All sorts of new things are happening in this market and we are not being able to access them because of the monopoly situation in many of the countries."

"Cable and Wireless and others have served us well and it is not that we want to kick them out, but the international landscape is changing and they have to change and give consumers a break, let them share in
the sweet and bring down these high rates to consumers," she added.

Many of the governments seem to be watching the situation in Bermuda. Last year the government of Bermuda brought in foreign competition. The matter went to court. It was eventually settled but when it did C & W was no longer a monopoly.

In Jamaica government recently announced a change of policy which will allow competition.

"The new policy and the legislation which will accompany it are intended to increase competitiveness of Jamaica, to enable the advancement of social and economic objectives... and ensure improved service to residential and business customers," Prime Minister Percival Patterson says.

In Dominica, Cable and Wireless has an arrangement with the government which gives it monopolistic control over the country's telecommunication system until 2025. Prime Minister Eddison James says
he is determined to change the situation as the island prepared for public consultation on the matter this week.

In fact, the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) meets in neighbouring St. Lucia later this week to hammer out positions and review progress made so far. Words like 'stranglehold' and 'exploitation' have been used to describe how some governments and telephone subscribers feel about C & W.

Observers say the monopolistic control of C & W is such a burning issue that regional ministers spent several days here late last month discussing the way forward at a meeting of the Caribbean Council for Trade and Economic Development (CCTED), one of the highest decision-making bodies in the region.

"CCTED supported the move of ministers firstly to engage in a concerted effort to introduce competition in the field of telecommunication services and for us as a region to approach C & W, PLC, U.K as one body
to start the process of renegotiation of the existing monopoly licences, " says Phillip Paulwell, Jamaica's Commerce and Technology Minister.

The Caricom Secretariat and the Caribbean Telecommunications Union (CTU) have been mandated with the task of carrying out a detailed study of all monopoly licences existing in the region.

"We also agreed on the need to study regional constitutional framework in order to determine the right of access to quality telecommunications services and by extension a better quality of life for the region's
people," says Wiltshire-Forde.

But Wiltshire-Forde says she is hopeful that the monopolies will see the writing on the wall -- that times have changed. "I think the parties are beginning to understand the need for a new arrangement... One thing is clear and that is that the governments are determined to do something," she adds.