CWC merger proceeds without agreement

ST. LUCIA:  Ministers hope to quicken legislation in order to strengthen consumer rights and ensure that investment remains competitive.
No agreement has been reached between the Eastern Caribbean Telecommunications Authority (ECTEL) and Cable and Wireless Communications (CWC) on CWC’s planned merger.
The regulatory body, ECTEL and CWC had  been in consultations for over a year as Eastern Caribbean government heads, in the absence of legislation, aimed to negotiate to protect consumer rights and ensure a competitive investment climate. But after 15 months of negotiations, no agreement was reached.
“One of the reasons why ECTEL was set up, was to facilitate competition and to ensure investment in the sector,” ECTEL Managing Director Embert Charles said. “Whenever you have mergers there is the possibility of it having an impact on competition which affects the quality of service and [can result in higher] prices. So when Columbus and Cable and Wireless announced this merger just over a year and a half ago our intention was to safeguard the [competitive] environment and as a result we entered into negotiations with the companies to put safeguards in place that would mitigate the impact of the merger on the markets in Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and Grenada.
“ECTEL received guidance from the ministers of these countries to ensure that as part of an overall policy objective, the regulators would continue discussions until we reached an agreement. We were unable to reach an agreement after 15 months of negotiations because the service providers refused to sign the agreement.”
Mr. Charles explained that one of the conditions was “a very clear commitment” by CWC that there would be no integration of business until it received consent from the regulator.
“Consent was based on signing an agreement,” Mr. Charles said. “There was no agreement signed but there is integration of business and branding taking place,” he said, “so you decide what decision  they have taken.”
ECTEL, and Eastern Caribbean telecommunications ministers now say the time for consultations has ended.
“I said to the CEO [of CWC] that if they went ahead with the merger without the agreement that I could not support it,” Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Dr. James Fletcher said. “I made it clear that while I respected the right of CWC to proceed with the merger, I also had a paramount responsibility to protect the rights of consumers in Saint Lucia.
“What’s next is for the EC bill to be passed in the respective parliaments. When that bill is in place it will give us the legislative strength that we need to address not just this current issue but any future issues dealing with mergers, acquisitions, competitive behavior, and infrastructure sharing.
“I know there is some disquiet among service providers because they feel that the legislation might be a bit overbearing, but our experience over the last 15 months has shown that it is better to err on the side of having the legislation in place, rather than depending on the good will of the players to get things done. So I make no apologies whatsoever for being a vey ardent supporter of the Electronic Communications Bill and ensuring that it is passed as quickly as possible.”
The Electronic Communications Bill will strengthen consumer rights and ensure that investment remains competitive.