C&W official calls for level playing field

A top official of telecommunications giant Cable & Wireless Communications (C&W) has issued a call to Prime Minister Mia Mottley and other regional governments to do more to ensure greater uniformity among players in the information and communication technology (ICT) space and a reduction in the cost of doing business.

Vice President for the South Caribbean at Cable & Wireless Communications Kurleigh Prescod said the company, which trades here as FLOW, was in the business of connecting people and creating value in their lives. However regional governments needed to be more adaptive and review some fees to ensure customers could benefit more from lower costs.

He said as the telecoms company continued on the journey to reduce roaming rates and charges partners in government to re-examine the level of license fees and universal service contributions, duties and taxes on network equipment and infrastructure to allow us to pass on further reductions to valuable and mutual subscribers and nationals, and a relaxation in regulations especially as it relates to the contracting market for landline telephone services across the region.

Prescod made the comments on Wednesday during the historic signing of the Declaration of St George’s Towards the Reduction of Intra-CARICOM Roaming Charges, which paves the way for new fixed roaming charges to become a reality. They should take effect by the end of next month.

Under this agreement, FLOW and Digicel have agreed to cooperate on the development of a roadmap for the planned CARICOM single ICT space.

Prescod suggested that companies that provide a streaming media or video service by piggy-backing on the already established internet service here should be made to pay their fair share.

“In addition to the steep license and regulatory fees we pay, we are also now facing significant competition from over the top providers who leverage the investments of these telecommunications operators and charge to deliver many times the same content that we do, using our networks without contributing a single cent to our taxation regulatory frameworks,” said Prescod.

Over-the-top providers usually charge a subscription fee for their streaming services. Examples of such providers include the popular Netflix and Amazon Prime.

Prescod noted “Every dollar these providers take from not only the telecommunications providers – but from our local businesses such as newspapers and national broadcasters, contributes to further erosion from the necessary funding our governments need to take care of our populations, while putting further strain on employment in our markets.

“We are not asking for protectionism. All we ask for is parity and for the cost of regulation to be spread evenly across the providers of service to our communities. We at Cable & Wireless want to do more, we want to give more and we want to invest more,” said Prescod.

“So I call on all of us here to adopt pro-investment policies that improve the ease of doing business in the region and let us also explore more public/private partnerships that are designed to improve the lives of CARICOM citizens,” he added.

In response, Prime Minister of Grenada Dr Keith Mitchell, who has responsibility for telecommunications within CARICOM, said he understood Prescod’s sentiments.

He gave the assurance that studies have already been commissioned to find out the impact the over the top service providers were having on the regional players in the ICT space.

“Regional governments understand the obligations in terms of rationalizing and simplifying the ICT regulatory environment to improve the areas of doing business in the sector and to reduce operational costs,” said Mitchell.

“Towards this end, we have already commissioned a study with the support of our brothers in the Caribbean Telecommunications Union on the impact of over-the-top services and the big tech within the regional ICT sector. We are moving. We have also, with the support of the International Telecommunication Union, commissioned a study on the establishment of a single ICT regulator for CARICOM. We are moving. It is imperative that we tackle these issues if we want to make meaningful progress on this digital paradigm,” he said.

Mitchell did not give a timeframe in which the studies could be completed or what action was likely at the level of CARICOM once those findings were analysed.
(MM)