Independent Senators Urge PUC Action on Telecom Buyout

Independent senators, Kevin Herrera, Louis Wade, Glenfield Dennison, and Janelle Chanona, are once again taking a stand against Belize Telemedia Limited’s proposed acquisition of Speednet. Senators are doubling down on their warnings tonight, saying the proposed buyout could fundamentally change Belize’s telecommunications landscape, and not for the better. They argue existing law already includes safeguards meant to prevent monopolies, and question why regulators are only stepping in at the tail end of the process. While government officials say oversight would kick in if and when the deal is approved, the senators insist that the Public Utilities Commission should have acted much earlier to protect competition, with Union Senator Glenfield Dennison now calling for action before the ink dries.

 

Glenfield Dennison, Union Senator

“I invite the members of the PUC to shift your lens away from thinking that the answer is regulating a dominant actor in telecoms. The starting point should and must always be that competition and rivalry is what should be driving the telecoms industry. So I asked my Belizean people how much ah unu like double up. That da wa concept that came to being in my lifetime double up and then it start get triple up. One time I had quadruple up, right Mek we be clear. Da no that ney mi want give you that you know. That is what competition does. Don’t ask the Belizean people what they think about the dominance position. You go and you do what the law says you must do in order to determine what, whether or not they’re dominant, and understand and appreciate that your role, sir. Is not to create a dominant actor and then regulate it. Your role is to create the market environment so that competition thrives. And in a situation where through competition, one dominant provider kills the competition fear and square. That is where your power to regulate and price cap ought to come in. So don’t come to us, sie and sirs at the PUC like unu di help the Belizean people if unu want help we, the help we want is competition and where competition results in one player. Then you regulate them.”

 

Independent senators say the proposed Telemedia‑Speednet deal threatens competition, and Union Senator Glenfield Dennison is urging the Public Utilities Commission to step in now, before the deal is finalized and the market is reshaped.