The Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GT&T) said yesterday that Digicel’s allegations about its license are spurious and not supported under the law.

In response to a Digicel press release to the media in which it said it had initiated legal action against GT&T over its telephone monopoly, GT&T said, “We are convinced that their actions have nothing to do with the well-being of the Guyanese consumer. As Digicel will discover, we are neither unwilling to nor incapable of defending our legal rights.”

GT&T said in a press release e-mailed to the media yesterday that it had not yet been served with the suit filed by Digicel and was amazed to see that the company had issued a public relations release on the subject.

“It is not usual in the Guyanese system for approaches to the courts to be accompanied by contentious public relations releases,” GT&T said. This action has nothing to do with customer choice, quality of service, and price. The fact is that Digicel is aware that negotiations between the Government of Guyana and ATN/GT&T to modify GT&T’s license are well advanced.

“Indeed, the [government] has indicated that draft legislation dealing with the liberalization of the sector is imminent and will be shared with all interested stakeholders. Further, it is common knowledge that GT&T has made it clear that in the context of successful negotiations it does not wish to extend its exclusive license beyond its first term which ends in 2010.”

It said it had asked consistently that agreements be honoured and that all operators operate within the confines of the law.

“Digicel’s assertion that their action is aimed at lowering prices and improving service quality is laughable,” GT&T said adding that it has tried repeatedly to lower international call rates only to be prevented from doing so by the PUC on Digicel’s complaints.

“Digicel is fully aware that the temporary international license that allowed them to provide international service for a while could not be justified since the undersea cable cuts that disrupt service periodically has nothing to do with GT&T’s network and that in any event GT&T always has adequate redundant voice capacity in place to carry traffic,” the release said. “GT&T has continued to invest heavily in the modernization of telecommunications in Guyana.  The public is aware, for example, that GT&T is currently engaged in the build-out of an undersea international fibre optic cable at a cost of US$30 million,” it added.