Digicel gets licence reprieve in Guyana

It gained a reprieve of sorts when the Government of Guyana granted it a temporary licence, therefore allowing it to route international calls to the South American country.

This stroke of good fortune came about due to a rupture to the Americas II cable, 15 kilometres off the eastern shore of French Guiana, which disrupted all international calls going into the country. The state-owned Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company is the only entity allowed to have an international licence, meaning that Digicel had no choice but to route its calls through that firm.

This proved an impediment to Digicel’s plans in Guyana to getting the country’s telecoms sector to be liberalised.

Digicel’s (Guyana) CEO Tim Bahrani, in a press release, last week, said over the last few months, Guyana has successfully hosted the Rio convention and the Cricket World Cup, which have really put Guyana on the map in terms of a country to do business with.

“It is imperative, however, that Guyana builds on these successes and liberalises the Guyana telecommunications market and ends all existing monopolies in this sector,” he said.

“By fully liberalising the telecommunications market, it offers Digicel and other operators the opportunity to invest in alternative infrastructure that will ensure that Guyana and its people are not so reliant on the Americas II cable for international services.”

Digicel entered the Guyanese market in February of this year with plans to invest some US$60 million. In order to protect its investment in Guyana, Digicel was prepared to invest in its own cable system, an alternative to Americas II.

The Government of Guyana made it very clear that this new licence granted to Digicel is only valid until such time as international connectivity via the Americas II cable is resolved.