The parent company of GTT may seek compensation for any loss of exclusive market rights
Kaieteur News – While the PPP / C Administration broke the back of its monopoly over the telecommunications market, Atlantic Tele-Networks Inc. (ATN), the parent company of Guyana Telephone and Telegraph (GTT) in the United States of the impression that its June 18, 1990 license is still intact and, therefore, grants it exclusive rights over “voice services and stable and international domestic data. ” If his contract is involuntarily terminated, he can challenge the government for damages.
ATN’s CEO, Michael Prior.
ATN stated this much in its most recent financial filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). In that document considered by Kaieteur News, ATN made clear that it has a license from the Government of Guyana that allows it to “be the unique provider of domestic and international voice and data services internationally.”
ATN stated that a Government license included an initial term that ended in December 2010, which was renewable in its sole option for an additional 20 year term. In November 2009, ATN reported that it had notified the government of its election to renew its exclusive license for an additional 20-year term ending in 2030.
On December 15, 2010, ATN reported that it received correspondence from the government stating that its license had been renewed until new legislation was enacted to expand competition within the sector.
Fast forward to October 5, 2020, ATN was keen to draw the attention of the SEC and its shareholders by extension that Guyana’s Prime Minister Mark Philips had implemented telecommunications legislation previously passed by Parliament in 2016. The company said that this legislation “introduces significant changes to many of the features of Guyana’s existing telecommunications regulatory regime with a view to creating a more competitive market. ”
The US company pointed out that, at that time, it had already obtained a new license to provide domestic and international voice as well as data and mobile services in Guyana.
The company further noted that two of its competitors, Digicel and Enetworks, which had previously provided fixed voice and internet services, thereby eroding much of its market share, also received service licenses . “Although we have requested details of our competitors’ licenses, no such information has been published by the Guyana Telecommunications Agency, and we are not yet able to find out whether the licenses issued to our competitors allow any competitors to provide services that are have been subject. to GTT’s exclusive rights contained in its 1990 license, ”ATN noted.
In addition, the US company recalled that on October 23, 2020, the Government of Guyana introduced new telecommunications regulations required by the telecommunications legislation. He noted that “the regulations include new requirements for the whole market, affecting our operations, administrative reports and services.”
Although the government would have introduced a new law and regulation to liberalize the sector, ATN told its investors “there can be no guarantee that these regulations will be implemented effectively, or that they will be administered in a fair and transparent manner. We believe that our current, exclusive license remains valid unless and until we make an alternative arrangement with Government. “
In these circumstances, says ATN, there can be no guarantee that its negotiations with the Guyana Government will resume or end, or that such negotiations will satisfactorily address its rights contractual selectivity. While ATN has stated that the option to seek compensation or other compensation for any involuntary termination of its contractual selectivity rights is on the table, the SEC informed that it cannot guarantee that it would prevail in any case to enforce its rights.