Defiant calling centres vow to stay open

Owners and operators of international calling centres around the country have vowed to keep their doors open, despite orders from the Regulated Industries Commission (RIC) to close their doors and cease business. However, failure to comply with these orders can result in each calling centre being fined $60,000 for every day it is in violation of the orders. This was yesterday revealed at a press conference hosted by the Association for Calling Centres, at the calling centre located at Express House, Independence Square, Port-of-Spain.

Spokesperson and member of the association, Michael Harris, declared: “The owners/operators of the international calling centres intend to make our voices heard against the injustice of the RIC’s pronouncements and in particular its call to the centres to close their doors for business.” “In the interim, the calling centres will continue to be open to the public,” he said. Stating that the association had sought legal advice on the matter concerning claims by the RIC that the “centres were offering telephone services without a licence and were therefore operating illegally,” Harris said they were not at liberty to answer questions on advice from their lawyers.

However, he explained that the establishment of these centres represented three important elements which included a financial investment in good faith in the future of the country; providing employment for persons; and the provision of affordable communication access to the population who may either not have access or may not be able to afford access to the telephone services currently provided by TSTT.

Vaughn Noreiga, a member of the association, explained that the system used by the calling centres was the same used by persons when sending an email or listening to music on the internet. Stating that it did not traverse the traditional public switch network, Noreiga said while a gateway provider is necessary, they were not using the TSTT network. When contacted by Newsday, RIC revealed that they will be holding a press conference this morning in response to yesterday’s conference by the call centres. Attempts to contact TSTT’s chief executive officer Sam Martin for a comment proved futile.