Former govt refused to bring Telecoms Act into full operation

DPI Press Release

Friday, August 7, 2020

On the 18th day of July 2016, the Telecommunications Act was passed by the National Assembly and assented to by former President David Granger.

The main objective of this Act was to liberalise and modernise the telecommunications sector and to break the monopoly enjoyed by the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GTT).

The Regulations and all the relevant policies for implementation were completed for several years. However, the Coalition Government refused to bring the Act into full operation. Instead, former Minister Cathy Hughes brought into operation only a few inconsequential Sections.

Rather than operationalise the Act, on the 1st day of March 2019, just before the Coalition Government lost its legal status after the successful passage of a No-Confidence Motion in the National Assembly, they signed a Memorandum of Understanding to preserve the current status quo.