Letter to the Editor
C&W calls for fairer umpiring on a level playing field
Friday, April 30, 2004
Dear Sir,
From the onset of negotiations with Government to allow competition in the
telecommunications market, the position of Cable & Wireless has been clear and
consistent: one of confidence that we could compete favourable with any
provider of products and services, as long as we were all on a “level playing
field.”
Now, however, that the game has begun in earnest, we are dismayed to find
that there is reason for real concern in another quarter.
It is not the contours of the pitch, but the officiating in this
high-pressure match that has us increasingly wondering about whether the game
is being played in a manner that best benefits the “spectators” – consumers.
As the longtime sponsor of West Indian Cricket including major cricket
events and programmes in the Cayman Islands, Cable & Wireless is well familiar
with the importance of having in place umpires who both well understand the
rulebook and have the fortitude to apply those rules with indifference to the
emotions and atmospherics of the game.
In this instance the ‘umpires’ are the staff and board of the Information &
Communications Technology Authority (better known as “ICTA”) who are
responsible for regulating the communications industry to be certain all
players are adhering to the rulebook (also known as the ICTA law of the Cayman
Islands).
On 5 March, Cable & Wireless announced “ground-breaking reductions of up to
67 percent below the competition” on mobile prices.
It is a fair assumption that most people in the Cayman Islands, with the
establishment of the ICTA and the ensuing competition in the
telecommunications market, expected rates to drop, perhaps even precipitously
on certain products, plans, and services, and that is exactly what happened.
Indeed, for years Cable & Wireless has been saying that provided we were
allowed to modernise our prices for local wire line services, we could make
significant reductions in the prices of many other services.
We have now been allowed to adjust the prices for local services, so we
have stood by our word and our reductions in mobile and other prices should
not come as a surprise to anyone, especially not competitors nor the ICTA.
However, while you, the consumer, cheered, the competition howled. Our
major competitors began a well-orchestrated lobbying effort with the ICTA to
force Cable & Wireless to increase its rates. This is an effort driven by a
need to prop up their own flawed business plans rather than what is best for
the consumers.
For the newly-constituted umpires at the ICTA, this is their first “big
game,” and their first “big call” in that “big game” astonished not only all
of us at Cable & Wireless but we believe most of the residents of the Cayman
Islands.
Despite voluminous documentation supplied by Cable & Wireless to the ICTA
in support of our price reductions, the regulators ruled on 7 April against
our company and in favour of our competitors, ordering us to immediately raise
certain rates.
We respect the rule of law and have applied the mandated increase, however
we also plan to seek a review of this decision.
The overriding mandate of a regulatory agency here, we believe, should be
to protect you, the consumer, not to protect the special interests or
inefficiencies of large corporations such as AT&T Wireless, Digicel or Cable &
Wireless to your detriment.
Moreover, it is not an exaggeration to say that much of the success of the
economy of these islands can be attributed to reasonable, but not onerous or
punitive, regulatory practices.
The Government itself, in its marketing material, points out with pride
that business in the Cayman Islands can be conducted with a minimum of red
tape, governmental interference or regulatory bureaucracy.
Perhaps that reason more than any other accounts for the presence of
thousands of registered companies, hundreds of banks, and now more than 5,000
hedge funds which call the Cayman Islands home. The Authority seems to have
lost sight of this practice.
Finally, decisions on commercial actions should be applied even-handedly.
For example, after citing C&W for alleged misleading advertisements, there
appears to be no attempt or action by the ICTA to restrain our competitors
from clearly false claims.
So will the Authority investigate where AT&T claimed in its advertising
that it provides “roaming” services to its customers at a cost as low as 49
cents per minute when it turns out that the total charge per minute ranges
from a minimum of 73 cents to $4.83, depending on the type of call and the
region visited?
As we stated at the outset, Cable & Wireless welcomes competition to the
Cayman Islands on the basis of a level playing field and regulators who put
the customers’ interests first.
We don’t want to see a situation continue to develop where the question on
many residents’ minds is, “Who will regulate the regulators?”
Furthermore we believe customers will now clearly see for themselves which
company really means what it says about bringing the best possible prices and
value to its customers.
Cable & Wireless remains the smart choice for telecommunications. We stand
by our word.
Eugene Nolan
VP Competitive Strategy
Cable & Wireless
Northern Caribbean
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