OECS Signs Telecoms Deal With Cable & Wireless

by Mike Godfrey, Tax-News.com, New York

05 June 2002

Under an agreement signed recently in St. George's, capital of Grenada, Cable & Wireless agreed to surrender its exclusive telecommunication licences in Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines (members of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States - OECS).

The new agreement provides for pricing of certain telecoms regulated and unregulated services by Cable & Wireless and sets out these pricing rules, price caps and price cap rules in an annex which will form part of the licences that have been granted to Cable & Wireless by the Ministers of Telecommunications in the OECS Contracting States.

The Agreement further recognises the specific regulatory role and functions of the sub-regional and domestic regulatory bodies namely the Eastern Caribbean Telecommunications Authority (ECTEL) and the National Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (NTRC).

The Chairman of the Authority of the Heads of Government of OECS, Dr. Denzil L. Douglas, Prime Minister of St Kitts & Nevis, said the 20th May signing ceremony between Cable & Wireless and the five Eastern Caribbean States is of enormous significance to the sub-region.

Speaking at a Signing Ceremony at the Rex Grenadian Hotel in St. Georges, in the presence of his Prime Ministerial colleagues from Grenada, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and the Dominica Minister of Telecommunications, the Dr Douglas said the agreement must not be underestimated in its impact on the lives of the people of the OECS, the economies of the Contracting States and the new partnership between the public and the private sectors in the new environment of telecoms reform.

Dr. Douglas recalled warnings given to the region that its traditional agricultural and tourist sectors were under threat and emphasised that the informatics sector held out hope and promise in the quest to diversify the OECS economies, but that the lack of competition within this sector was prohibitive and a disincentive.

The OECS Chairman said that it was against that background that the international and regional institutions advocated telecom reform for the OECS sub-region with the World Bank teaming up with the OECS Secretariat, to set the stage for competitive telecoms services in a liberalised environment.

"Today therefore is a most historical day because we believe that competitive services, though not a panacea for all our economic challenges in the sub-region, will lead to improved growth and development in the telecoms sector. It will provide investment capital and realise greater opportunities for employment of our young people and stimulate economic growth for the sub-region," said Prime Minister Douglas, stating that he was confident that the agreement "opens up a vista of global opportunities that will set the stage for the empowerment of our own domestic and sub-regional entrepreneurs, who can market their skills and showcase their capacity for enterprise and success in this new and exciting knowledge-based and technologically-driven globalised economy."

Dr. Douglas also paid tribute to Grenada's Prime Minister Dr. Keith Mitchell, "who steered these negotiations through very difficult times when we thought that they were being railroaded." Ministers of Telecommunications were also praised for their contribution.

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