From Guardian Digital T&T

CASTRIES—The Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) has launched an initiative aimed at mobilising and sensitising the public of the sub-region to the recent moves by Cable and Wireless Communications (CWC) to acquire Columbus International.

CWC is reportedly paying US$3 billion to acquire the privately owned Columbus International, a fibre-based telecoms company serving the Caribbean, Central America and Andean region, which is backed by cable television billionaire John Malone. Head of International Relations at the St Lucia-based OECS Commission, Ambassador Anthony Severin, said developments surrounding the takeover “have profound implications for the progress of an ICT sector and economies of our member states.”

Severin, who is acting as head as officer in charge of the Commission in the absence of Dr Didacus Jules, the director general, said serious concerns have been expressed about this matter by a number of individuals and institutions around the region.

“The OECS Commission is of the view that these concerns are very real and that there is need for the continued ventilation of these concerns,” he said, adding, “while there has been some public debate on the matter, we are of the view at the Commission that this debate is taking place at a level and in a manner which does not even begin to address the real issues.”

Savarin said the “current public debate is based on a menu that is prepared within the boardrooms and public relations offices of the various protagonists whose interest is to maintain the debate at a level of public accusation by each other of malpractices and various underhand dealings.

“We believe there is need for greater sensitisation of our various public and stakeholders about the real issues at play in order that there can be much greater and more informed public discourse and that public policy when formulated could be more reflective of and responsive to the articulated concerns of our various publics and stakeholders.” Severin said that the intent of the OECS Commission is to contribute to the public discourse “and to seek to raise the level of that discourse”

He said the Commission was releasing two documents penned by Jules or public information. Severin said he was also challenging the media in the sub-region to be active facilitators of the public discourse as well as being “active contributors in a substantive way to that discourse. “We do not intend to stop there however as we will be utlising to the fullest the various social media platforms in furtherance of this effort,” he said.

The OECS groups the islands of Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, St Kitts-Nevis, Montserrat, British Virgin islands and Anguilla. The St Lucia-based Eastern Caribbean Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (Ectel) has already said the proposed agreement is a matter of significant public interest for the region deserving of rigorous regulatory attention and diligent review.

Ectel has expressed its “deep concern” in relation to the proposed transaction and the fact that the proposed merger could “potentially result in a negative impact on competition’ by “reducing choice for consumers of both services and service providers.”

Ectel further noted that “increased monopolisation can erode the gains made by liberalisation” and that the proposed merger raises significant issues in terms of potential breaches of licences by both CWC and Columbus which must be investigated thoroughly.

But CWC chief executive, Phil Bentley, has given a commitment to Caribbean governments and regulators that if the company’s acquisition of Columbus International is approved, the enlarged CWC will not negatively impact competition in the cable and broadband markets.

For more on this story go to: http://www.guardian.co.tt/business/2015-01-12/oecs-seeks-public-views-cwccolumbus

See also related iNews Cayman story published December 28 2014 “Jamaica commission probes CWC, Columbus merger” at: http://www.ieyenews.com/wordpress/jamaica-commission-probes-cwc-columbus-merger/