Telecoms overhaul
AN overhaul of the telecommunications legislation to set network and customer service standards is on its way.
Outlining the results of a 2019 Quality of Service Audit conducted on the sector, Acting Chief Telecommunications Officer Clifford Bostic stated a paper may come before Cabinet this week to set a legislative framework for such.
He pointed out that currently while the demand for bandwidth and data was high in Barbados, the island’s infrastructure has not kept up and work was being done with the telecoms operators to address this.
“For the future, one of the things that we also have started to do is have conversations with the Fair Trading Commission (FTC). We are collaborating with them because they take care of consumer protection and what the consumers receive or get is a result of how the network is set up and what metrics are put in place. We are talking about quality of service standards where we are going to set the standards. So that once the network standards are set, the customer service standards can be set the same time and we are working with the FTC to do just that.
“We are going to move into the area of setting a legislative framework to deal with legislation and regulation, because you have got consumer protection, you have utility regulations and you have the Telecommunications Act, Quality of Service Regulation and legislation. So we are working together with them, and this week you should see paper coming to Cabinet for approval for us to proceed in that manner. We believe once we have set this in place that we will have not only the commitment of service providers, but we will know when the quality of service is not what it is supposed to be and correct that before we have to go through years and years of poor service,” he added.
Speaking during the Appropriations (Amendment) Bill 2020 at the Worthing Conference Centre yesterday, Bostic said the mobile sector was only the first step as the entire telecommunications industry would be brought in line.
“We are not going to stop there because there are fixed services, fixed lines in homes and businesses, Internet and IP TV as well as other services. The only way we are going to survive as a digital environment is if we have the right infrastructure in place with the right standards and framework in place that will make sure that as we use more data and have more demand on the capacity that is available and that there is a framework for which this can be improved in a consistent and sustainable way,” he added. (JMB)