ST. GEORGE’S, Grenada – The British based telecommunications company, Cable and Wireless Communications (CWC) Wednesday called for a level playing field across the Caribbean even as it welcomed competition in a sector it once monopolized in the Caribbean.
CWC’s Vice President, South Caribbean, Kurleigh Prescod (right), flanked by Prime Minister of Grenada Dr. Keith Mitchell (left) and Director of Government Affairs Digicel Group, Kieran Mulvey (center). Addressing the signing ceremony for the St. George’s Declaration on Roaming” that will benefit consumers in the region, CWC’s Vice President, South Caribbean, Kurleigh Prescod said the company has a “long and proud history” of providing reliable connection to customers in the Caribbean.
“We are committed to working with all stakeholders to deliver greater opportunities and added value for our customers and likewise all those who communicate with our networks.
“As we have demonstrated over the years with continued investments in deploying new technologies, we fully appreciate and understand the importance of a true Caribbean single market with cost effective, reliable connection…”
He said CWC had taken this first transformational step in negotiating the new roaming charges, even as CARICOM governments have signaled their intention to have roaming charges eliminated totally.
Prescod said that CARICOM customers would benefit from ‘significantly reduced roaming packages” across the region that should go into effect during the first quarter of this year, providing “simple, consistent and transparent rates and overall reduction in customers charges and eliminating the chock of receiving exorbitant bills”.
He said he was using the occasion to appeal for “continued dialogue among all stakeholders to move this agenda forward in particular “the forum where operators can collaborate with governments and regulators on current and future technologies as any framework we adopt must be future proof for the changes associated with the industry.
“We must be adaptive and need to work as a region to reduce the cost of doing business to service providers which will redound to the benefits of our citizens and communities”:
But Prescod said that there is also need to re-examine some of the fiscal measures already in place as they relate to duties and taxes, network infrastructure “to allow us to pass on further reductions to our valuable mutual subscribers and nationals.
“A relaxation in regulations, especially as it relates to the contracting market for landline telephone services across the region. In addition to the steep licensing and regulator fees we pay, we are also know facing significant competition from over the top providers who leverage the investments of these telecommunication operators and charge to deliver many times the same content that we do using our networks”.
The CWC official said this was being done with those over the top providers “not contributing a single cent to our taxation regulatory frameworks.
“Every dollar these providers take, from not only telecommunication providers but from our local businesses such as newspapers and national broadcasters contributes to the further erosion of the necessary funding that our governments need to take care of our population while putting further strain on employment in our markets”.
Prescod make it clear that the CWC is not “asking for protectionism, all we ask for is parity and for the cost of regulation to be spread evenly across the providers of services in our communities.
“We at Cable and Wireless want to do more, we want to give more and we want to invest more and 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 explore more public-private partnerships that are designed to improve the lives of CARICOM citizens”.
Prescod said that it had been done successfully over the past two years in response to the coronavirus (COVId-19) pandemic through programs in Dominica and St. Vincent and the Grenadines ensuring that disadvantaged citizens had access to broadband internet “at extremely affordable rates”.
