Cable TV monopoly comes to an end

Cabinet yesterday approved the granting of concessions for wired cable for a national audience for Columbus Communications (the company which bought out the local cable company) and TSTT, says Public Administration and Information Minister Dr Lenny Saith. He was speaking at yesterday’s post- Cabinet news conference at Whitehall.

For regional or niche markets, the Cabinet approved concessions for Computer Technologies and Services Ltd for operations in the Mayaro/Guayaguayare area, RDR International Ltd for operations in the Rio Claro/New Grant/Princes Town area.

He said Government will put out proposals for wireless cable very soon. He added that next week he hoped to bring proposals to the Cabinet for international communications. On the conflicts between TSTT and Digicel over the interconnection issue for mobile operation, Saith said Government was leaving it up to the players and the Telecommunications Authority to work out the hurdles. "I expect that the authority working with the concessionaires and the existing providers will find a way of ensuring that the concessions can be awarded and be operational," he said. He said they were meeting regularly on the matter.

Told that Government could intervene in its capacity as a majority shareholder in TSTT to end the deadlock, Saith said while Government was a majority shareholder in TSTT, there was an agreement with its minority partner (Cable and Wireless) that Government would not want to do anything to breach the agreement.

The two sides have locked horns over the issue of how new providers interconnect with TSTT.