ICTA Reacts To C&W Criticism
Alee Fa’amoe
Wednesday, May 5, 2004
The Information and Communications Technology Authority (ICTA) responded on
Monday to criticism from Cable & Wireless (C&W), which it believes has called
into question the Authority’s integrity.
Stressing that the Authority was not in the habit of responding to press
releases, interviews and letters, the ICTA said it felt that it had to clarify
its position in light of some of the comments made by C&W, which it felt were
unjust.
Specifically the ICTA referred to comments made by Alee Fa’amoe on 15 April,
when he was Acting Chief Executive of C&W and a letter to the editor from Eugene
Nolan, Vice President Competitive Strategy for Cable & Wireless, Northern
Caribbean, which appeared in Cayman Net News last Friday.
In their written statement, the ICTA said, “On 15 April Mr Fa’amoe implied on
Cayman 27 that there was something wrong about the fact that the ICTA made
publicly available details of C&W’s planned mobile rates three days in advance
of their release to the public.
“As a senior manager in C&W, Mr Fa’amoe should be aware that the Authority is
obligated to make such information publicly available unless C&W simultaneously
files a confidentiality claim in accordance with the ICTA’s Confidentiality
Regulations. C&W had been advised many times in the past by the ICTA to abide by
the Confidentiality Regulations when, in fact, the company had neglected to do
so.”
According to the ICTA, C&W was also advised that unless it complied with the
Confidentiality Regulations in future, the ICTA would have no option but to
publish the information. “Among other things, the Confidentiality Regulations
are essential to ensuring that the maximum possible amount of information is
available so that the public, including other licensees, has the ability to
provide their views and comments to the ICTA before it issues its decisions,”
the statement said.
The ICTA also said that C&W provided no claim of confidentiality when it
filed its new mobile rates on 3 March. “The ICTA contacted the company to check
whether or not this was intentional, and gave C&W a short time in which to
respond. At the end of that time, because C&W had filed no claim of
confidentiality, the information was published.”
The row between the ICTA and C&W began in March when C&W’s new rates came
under scrutiny by the Authority. The ICTA requested further details from C&W
regarding its reductions and recommended that it delay its price reductions
until it had been established that it was acting competitively.
The company opted to hold firm and introduced the reductions, saying it was
confident that it would stand up to the ICTA's scrutiny.
Following a series of imputation tests, on 7 April, the ICTA ordered C&W to
raise some of it prices saying that they were below cost.
Last week C&W issued a statement saying that it did not agree with the ICTA’s
ruling and was consulting with experts to decide on their next move.
Cayman Net News contacted C&W in connection with this development, but the
telecom company declined to comment on the ICTA statement.
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