Secretary general of the Communications Workers' Union (CWU) Joseph Remy is calling on the Government and Telecommunications Authority to prevent the acquisition of Flow by Cable and Wireless.
Remy made the call at a press conference at the CWU Hall in Port-of-Spain yesterday, as he made reference to a recent report by the Caricom Competition Commission relative to the deal, which noted that such an acquisition would not be beneficial to the region. The report, Remy added, had also launched an investigation into the merger.
“The commission has decided, as preliminary investigation, that there is enough evidence to launch an investigation into the acquisition because of the impact that it is going to have on the competitive forces in the Caribbean region, particularly in the eastern Caribbean countries,” Remy said.
“We want to make a call to our local regulators, the Telecommunications Authority, particularly now that there is a new board...to review its permission it would have given Cable and Wireless over several months now.” He said for the past two to three years CWU has been condemning the acquisition because it was deemed a conflict of interest by the union.
“While T&T may be seen as an area of competitive forces in the wider Caribbean region, we were going to return to a monopolistic style of operation,” he said.
“What has happened by the commission’s call vindicated the CWU and we were on target in challenging that acquisition. In the face of that investigation there should not be any regulatory approval for anything to do with that acquisition, particularly as it relates to the T&T market.”
He alleged there was a certain individual who had free reign in the telecommunication sector in the region, saying there was also a “decimation of the workforce” throughout the eastern Caribbean.
“What has happened is there has been a massive job cut throughout the region and it has also returned some of the islands to a monopolistic style of operation, because what you have now is Cable and Wireless alone and we are demanding some sort of intervention by the regional governments, particularly now, because we are convinced there was a blatant conflict of interest with respect to the acquisition,” Remy said.
Saying that telecommunications was critical to any country’s economic survival, he said it was the nexus of the diversification and modernisation of any economy. Remy said this country’s telecommunications space must not be manipulated for personal interest by those who were not regional people.
In fielding questions from the media, Remy said the approval has not yet been completed and maintained there was room for the Telecommunication Authority to review the acquisition. He warned that if the transaction was to be completed the country would have to brace for more job losses.
“The social conscious does not exist with those companies. We don’t want another ArcelorMittal to resurface in T&T,” Remy said. He also alleged that multinational companies had the capacity to tap into data, resulting in possible breaches in national security.
“It is easy to manipulate something if you are in total control of it,” Remy added.