T&T: TSTT's scared of a little competition

The only loser will be T&T because 'net service rates are as high as rent.

“It’s known that TSTT has a monopoly within the industry and they’re also given certain rights. They’re consulted by the ministry and Government when licences have to be issued etc with respect to telecommunications in T&T,” Clarke said.

In some instances it takes as long as three years for their requests for additional T1’s to be granted. At other times they just aren’t. A T1 supports 24 phone lines. An ISP would normally operate at a ratio of eight customers to every phone line, hence the need for additional T1’s in order to expand.

In addition, TSTT has cornered particular geographic areas for themselves by locking the ISP’s out. The ISP’s are only granted Points of Presence (POPs) in certain exchanges and all of them are forced to compete against each other in those confined areas.

Clarke also recalled that TSTT discouraged them from offering a Voice Over Internet Protocol service yet TSTT just a few weeks ago teamed up with Net2Phone to offer a similar service.
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Clarke said Wow.Net has been trying for years to obtain a licence to provide broadband service but was initially denied copies of the application forms. It was subsequently obtained only after the Ministry began holding consultations on broadband policy.

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