Gov’t shelves laws for open telecoms sector

Yog Mahadeo

The government yesterday failed to deliver on its promise to liberalise the telecommunications sector during the life of the Ninth Parliament, with the deferral of two bills it said was critical to the process.

The decision against proceeding with the Telecom-munications Bill 2011 and the Public Utilities Commission (Amendment) Bill 2011, which had been expected to be passed yesterday after they emerged from select committee reviews, prompted a call by telecommunications provider Digicel for a full disclosure of the reasons.

PPP/C Chief Whip Gail Teixeira, when contacted, told Stabroek News that “at the last moment some significant comments were made,” which led to the government deciding to allow more