|
Digicel
CEO Niall Dorian, right, is assisted by an aide as he signs
the interconnection agreement yesterday during the e-Government,
Sharing the Vision symposium at the Hyatt Regency Trinidad
hotel, 1 Dock Road, Port-of-Spain, as TSTT CEO Roberto Peon,
left, and Public Administration Minister Kennedy Swaratsingh
look on. Photo: David Wears
BY
RHONDA KRYSTAL RAMBALLY
LOCAL mobile provider Telecommunications Services of T&T
(TSTT) and its rival Digicel, yesterday finally signed an
interconnection agreement.
The two companies also agreed to share space on each other’s
cellular towers.
The signing was completed in less than three minutes at
a symposium, e-Government, Sharing the Vision, hosted by
the Ministry of Public Administration at the Hyatt Regency
Hotel, 1 Dock Road, Port-of-Spain, yesterday.
The agreement follows the recent decision of an arbitration
panel appointed by the Telecommunications Authority of T&T
(TATT) and months of bitter wrangling between the two companies.
Minister of Public Administration Kennedy Swaratsingh made
the “special announcement” before the signing.
He said, “It is common knowledge that since the liberalisation
of the sector, the two major operators, TSTT and Digicel
have not been able to treat with certain elements critical
for effective service delivery.
“Central
to the challenges of interconnection, co-location, cross
network SMS messaging, ladies and gentlemen, I am pleased
to announce that guided by the recent decision of an arbitration
panel appointed by the TATT and after intense discussions
with all key stakeholders since the recent decision...TSTT
and Digicel have come to an agreement of all of the contentious
issues I mentioned earlier, namely interconnection, co-location
and cross network SMS messaging.”
Under the agreement, both companies have agreed to pay the
same fees to each other for cellphone calls terminating
on each other’s network. The agreement applies retroactively
for all calls interconnected since the start of the interconnection
service.
Swaratsingh said once implemented, the new measures would
bring an improvement in the quality of service delivery
to members of the public.
He praised both TSTT and Digicel for displaying a “spirit
of good reasoning and compromise” during the discussions.
Seated on either side of the minister, the chief executives
of the two companies—Roberto Peon of TSTT and Niall
Dorian of Digicel—shook hands after signing the document.
Swaratsingh joked that he had used a Digicel pen for the
signing, upon which Peon promptly offered the minister his
pen.
Neither man addressed the gathering.
What TSTT/Digicel said
A news release issued jointly by the companies said that
the signing marked a milestone in the telecommunications
industry in T&T.
“The
companies expect these arrangements to go into effect within
the next three weeks. Once implemented, any mobile user
in T&T will then be able to send and receive text messages
from any mobile user in the country.”
It added that the two parties signed an agreement in relation
to the sharing of space on their respective cellular towers.
“This
arrangement should go some considerable way in allaying
the concerns of the public on the proliferation of towers
in T&T,” the statement said.
Both companies expressed their sincere thanks to Larry Howai,
chairman of the e-Business Roundtable for his professionalism
and resoluteness in his role as government-appointed mediator
during the discussions.
The statement concluded: “TSTT and Digicel are satisfied
that the terms of these two agreements ensure that the public
receives the full benefits of a liberalised telecommunications
market.”
|
