Two of Antigua and Barbuda’s major telecommunication companies are suing the government to avoid sharing the digital spectrum with the Antigua Public Utilities Authority (APUA), and the government is insisting that it is prepared for the legal fight.
“No court can tell us to whom we can license our spectrum, our national asset, so we are allowing for due process, we are allowing for a period of negotiation,” Browne said.
Prime Minister Gaston Browne revealed on his radio station on Saturday that both Digicel and Flow have already filed litigation against the government.
“In case of telecom space, we have a challenge right now with Flow and Digicel in that they are taking us to court because they have a particular low frequency spectrum in which they have been dominating for years to the exclusion of APUA,” he explained
Browne said that the companies are being greedy and refuse to share the space equitably between themselves and APUA.
He said that under the previous administration, “Digicel in particular ended up with most of the low frequency spectrum. As a result, APUA has been placed at a disadvantage.”
However, the PM said that in the interest of preserving peace they “will extend the period for them to comply by a further three months …. in that case, we expect that in that 90-day period they will cooperate
with us because ultimately the spectrum is an asset
for the government and people of Antigua and Barbuda.”