PM Briceño Orders Reset, Brings PUC In

As the government insists the pause is about transparency, public consultation, and giving regulators time to do their job, the Prime Minister is also weighing in. PM Briceño says the decision to halt discussions is really about resetting the process, and ensuring the Public Utilities Commission is brought in to provide proper legal and regulatory oversight from here on.

 

Prime Minister John Briceño

“What has been happening is that I think they put the cart ahead of the horse. The PUC needs to get involved. The PUC for instance when BEL wants to buy an equipment that cost thirty million dollars for instance and they want to make certain expansions and they want to increase rates, they have to go to the PUC and the PUC needs to take a hard look, take a look at the numbers and see if it is correct, if it works or not. And the same thing applies to telecommunications. So, the minister felt it is only right now that, put everything on halt. There has been a lot of misinformation on both sides. So, he felt the best thing to do is for the PUC to step in and take a look at what BTL is proposing and see if it is something that is in the best interest of the country and they could make a recommendation as to the way forward.”

 

Paul Lopez

“So the halt is to essentially for BTL and Speednet to halt any discussions they are having between each other?”

 

Prime Minister John Briceño

“Well that discussion has already happened. What is happening now is then for, and I don’t know all the details. I think Minister Chebat could answer you, but it is for the PUC to put everything on a stop, to say we should legally step in, we should have been the firs tone to come to so we can see what you are proposing. Also there should have been legislation a long time ago. I think Smart went to court to make the case that BTL is a dominant provider and won in court but the previous government never made any kind of legislation or regulations to ensure there is a level playing field between both players.”