We still need an audit of the broadcast frequencies

Dear Editor, The last person in this country to speak about lack of professionalism and recklessness should be Valmikki Singh.

No one in this country, who knows anything about broadcasting, will deny that he broke the law in numerous cases. The Christopher Ram audit of the NFMU confirms this, and why this man is still on the job is a mystery to many of us. He has been the cause of most of the acrimonious exchanges in the GNBA. None of this is a secret since the Kaieteur News of September 26, 2016 reported the following: “Ram and McRae presented a damning report of the forensic audit it conducted into the affairs of NFMU. Several bits of unflattering information were highlighted, including a number of instances of malpractice perpetuated by NFMU head, Valmikki Singh. So damning were the findings that the Ministry of Public Telecommunications is seeking legal advice on how to proceed …Our review of the files and documentation revealed that E-Networks Inc. and Quark Inc., companies controlled by persons with strong political connection to the PPP/C Administration, were not invoiced on a timely basis and ignored the NFMU’s invoices for long periods of time without any follow up action by the NFMU.” The NFMU also said that E-networks Inc and Quark Communications Inc could not have been invoiced for the usage of the 2.5 GHz band simply because a fee structure was not approved by the Minister. The NFMU said that it was “not comfortable with this situation and has raised it with the Minister on several occasions.”

Not comfortable with the situation, Editor? The NFMU executed a plan to stop the expansion of every cable system in this country and initiate a virtual monopoly to E-Networks and Quark communications. It also executed a plan to stop the expansion of any TV services into Berbice, Essequibo and other areas, stating that the PPP/C-PNCR dialogue and the agreements in the communiqué did not allow new licences. However, they were giving friends of the PPP access. The evening before the last, Michael Best of Atlantic cable called me and reminded me that when he asked NFMU for frequencies in the UHF band as were given to ENetworks, he was told there was no bandwidth, yet NFMU is now saying that there is more than enough.

We were never told who got the missing UHF channels, and Mr Singh has been hiding the fact that he issued preferential broadcast frequencies free of charge to cellular telephone services when for the same coveted frequencies Digicel paid US$25 million in Jamaica. The digital dividend when it comes, was not intended to be just given away to cellular services; they are required to pay significant amounts through public auctions for them, and it never happened in Guyana. It is that to which I object, and if pointing out this giveaway to the Guyanese people is unprofessional and reckless, then I am guilty. By giving away these frequencies he was operating as if we had already converted to digital broadcasting when in fact we are still very much an analogue broadcasting country. He not only failed to come up with a charge for E-Networks and Quark using the MMDS frequencies, according to the Ram audit, he totally failed to come up with a charge for ENetworks to be given the preferential place in the UHF band due to the wrong definition of broadcasting in the 2011 Act. It was a perversion to give E-Networks an advantage over all its competitors. And isn’t it strange that now that Leonard Craig has resigned, Mr Valmikki Singh is stepping in to take up the torch to make ENetworks the only cable system in this country. I wonder what the fuel can be for this fire?

Finally, when the roadmap was given to us (all the directors of GNBA) my understanding was that, for the time being, it was to be treated as a confidential report, and that we were not to do anything until further notice. In other words, I am correct; we as a nation have not committed to digital conversion as yet. Yes, we have a road map done by an ITU engineer but there are many decisions which will have to be made before it can be implemented. The consultations were not done properly and openly; NCN was part of the task force (for want of a better word) but the Guyana Media Proprietors Association (GMPA) of which channels 2,6,7,9,13,67, etc, are members along with others members from Berbice and Essequibo, Stabroek News and I believe Kaieteur News ‒ ie the big private broadcasters/ media owners who would be most affected by the conversion ‒ were never made part of any consultations, GMPA Chairman Jacob Rambarran has assured me.

But the NFMU and Mr Singh proceeded to chop up the broadcasting terrain as if we had been. The people of Guyana never benefited from it, so I wonder who did?

As is his customary modus operandi Mr Singh says that I do not want to go digital. I never said that we must not go digital; I am saying that we as a nation have not made that decision as yet and have not implemented the conversion, and therefore since we are still in an analogue mode, how dare he divide the spectrum as if we are digital? For whose benefit was that done?

I am still asking for an audit of the broadcast frequencies. I think that the people of this nation must be informed as to how their limited national assets are being given away and why?

Yours faithfully, Tony Vieira