GT&T loses bid to hike domestic rates

The Public Utilities Commission (PUC) has dismissed an application by the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GT&T) to raise domestic rates for some of its services and may consider an investigation of the company’s asset base due to suspicions that it may be inflated.

The March 13th, 2015 decision, which was signed by Chairman Prem Persaud and Commissioners Badrie Persaud and Maurice Solomon, also highlighted GT&T’s reliance on the terms of its licensing agreement to support its claim, despite its failure to fulfil its obligations to provide a universal landline service under the same agreement for over two decades.

In what appeared to be a move to pre-empt a new telecoms bill, which was expected to liberalise the sector and force the reduction of the rates for international calls, GT&T had applied in June last year to reduce international rates, while seeking to increase rates for the domestic market. It based its submission on its