Telecom concessions, Tobago airfare goes to Cabinet

Last Tuesday, Public Administration and Information Minister Dr Lenny Saith said he was currently studying recommendations from the Telecommunications Authority (TATT) to award concessions to Irish telecom company Digicel and local telecom company LaqTel to provide mobile phone services to the population.

Saith indicated that Cabinet should receive a note shortly, and a decision should be made on the award of the concessions within two weeks. At a news conference in San Juan last Friday, TATT chairman Khalid Hassanali said the minister was addressing the matter with dispatch and the authority was optimistic that both companies should be in a position to start serving the population from December.

Hassanali added that TATT is empowered by law to ensure that TSTT, Digicel and LaqTel do all within their power to conclude inter-connection agreements, that would allow the latter companies, to begin operation by December.

The proposed $400 Tobago airfare could also be discussed at tomorrow’s Cabinet meeting. Works and Transport Minister Colm Imbert said the Government has yet to decide on the level of subsidy for the fare, and a decision could be made within two weeks. Tobago Express, the sole carrier on the airbridge, had been lobbying for a $500 airfare and said it would have to study the impact that a $400 airfare could have on its operations. The current airfare is $300, of which the public pays $200, and the Government subsidises the remaining $100. Tobago House of Assembly Chief Secretary Orville London has said that he would not support an increased domestic air fare if this was not matched by an improvement in the level of service on the airbridge.

Prime Minister Patrick Manning, who returns home from Barbados today, will brief the Cabinet on his discussions with Barbados PM Owen Arthur and Jamaican PM PJ Patterson on the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME), PetroCaribe, and the supply of LNG to Jamaica for the generation of electricity for manufacturing alumina in the context of establishing an aluminum smelter. Energy Minister Eric Williams and Ambassador Plenipotentiary Jerry Narace were expected to accompany Manning to Barbados.