Business
Monopoly concerns in Telecommunications Industry of proposed LIME/Flow merger
Telecommunications ministers from the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) are due to meet in St. Lucia, Thursday, to discuss ramifications of the planned merger of the British telecommunications company, Cable and Wireless (CWC) – the owners of LIME and Columbus Communications International – which is branded as Flow Communications in most of the Caribbean region.
According to St. Lucia’s Telecommunications’ Minister James Fletcher, the members of the Eastern Caribbean Telecommunications Authority (ECTEL) will meet for the talks, which he described as are crucial given the fact that the recent merger is a source of grave concern to the entire region.
“We need to fully appraise ourselves of the regulatory issues involved in the merger, the options available to us, and to agree on a common agenda moving forward, in our engagement with LIME and with this new entity, LIME/Flow,” he said.
The talks are expected to result in the regional telecommunications regulator formulating proposals from the merger announced 2 weeks ago.
The Director General of the OECS Commission, Didicus Jules, is also expected to attend the meeting, which is being held amidst several concerns about the monopolization of the delivery of internet and wireless services.
“Data delivery is really what is driving commerce and social interaction, in fact in some instances this is even what is driving telephone communications, because telephone services are now being delivered via data. So the consolidation of Lime and Flow is worrying for us in that regard,” Fletcher said.
He said when Columbus International entered the regional market it operated as a disrupter, doing things that the incumbents were not doing.
