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‘Give spectrum to company best representing VI interest' – Richard C. de Castro

- said proper plan for spectrum could be turning point in local telecommunications industry
Television talk show host and social commentator Richard C. de Castro said that when it comes to the allocation of the spectrum, now might be the time to show preference to a particular telecommunications company which has positioned itself in the interest of Virgin Islanders. Photo: Facebook
“Now might be the time to show your colours so to speak and support that company that is putting us first,” said de Castro on his Speak Your Mind show aired on Saturday October 10, 2015 on JTV Live. Photo: VINO/File
“Now might be the time to show your colours so to speak and support that company that is putting us first,” said de Castro on his Speak Your Mind show aired on Saturday October 10, 2015 on JTV Live. Photo: VINO/File
The Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court days ago granted Caribbean Cellular Telephone (CCT) leave to apply for judicial review and issuing a stay of the 2015 Spectrum Award Process pending the outcome of the judicial review as had been firstly and accurately reported by this news site on October 1, 2015. Photo: VINO/File
The Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court days ago granted Caribbean Cellular Telephone (CCT) leave to apply for judicial review and issuing a stay of the 2015 Spectrum Award Process pending the outcome of the judicial review as had been firstly and accurately reported by this news site on October 1, 2015. Photo: VINO/File
ROAD TOWN, Tortola, VI – Television talk show host and social commentator Richard C. de Castro said that when it comes to the allocation of the spectrum, now might be the time to show preference to a particular telecommunications company which has positioned itself in the interest of Virgin Islanders.

“Now might be the time to show your colours so to speak and support that company that is putting us first,” said de Castro on his Speak Your Mind show aired on Saturday October 10, 2015 on JTV Live.

He said that company policies are something that distinguishes one company from another and said that if a company is out there properly branded and representing the Virgin Islands’ interest, that company should be favoured.

He said that local calls should not be more expensive than overseas calls and said that a points system should be used to measure how much the various telecommunications companies are benefiting the people of the territory.

“Ladies and gentlemen to put it in layman’s terms, the spectrum is the bandwidth that the country has and you can give it away, you can sell it, you can auction it, you can do all kinds of things,” he said. “You can allow people to use it in some areas and you can [also] have restricted areas of the spectrum. However, I am yet to hear what is our plan to manage the spectrum. It would be a turning point in our country to come up with a plan.”

de Castro further said that he is one of those people who believes that management of the spectrum should come along with the liberalisation of the telecommunications industry.

“There are some countries where the revenue alone from the spectrum can be of such that the Government would only be concerned with this stream of revenue from the telecommunications sector.”

“But that is not the case with our country. We have to monitor what is going to happen with the spectrum,” he argued. “We the citizens need to be involved in this whole process.”

CCT granted leave to apply for Judicial Review

The Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court days ago granted Caribbean Cellular Telephone (CCT) leave to apply for judicial review and issuing a stay of the 2015 Spectrum Award Process pending the outcome of the judicial review as had been first and accurately reported by this news site on October 1, 2015.

Speaking as a director of CCT, Dr Heskith A. Vanterpool said that they have always contended how the award process has been biased against CCT to the point where CCT’s registration for spectrum was initially accepted and then rejected without even a review and he vowed that CCT will continue to fight to be treated fairly.

13 Responses to “‘Give spectrum to company best representing VI interest' – Richard C. de Castro”

  • wize up (13/10/2015, 08:42) Like (7) Dislike (9) Reply
    I am 100% old school and believe that CCT must be given the home court advantage: a number of our people have invested into CCT: those 2 muti-billion companies can get profits from the other Caribbean and international markets where they already conduct business
    • The Premier said (13/10/2015, 12:45) Like (4) Dislike (2) Reply
      The Premier said, da born here attitude can't work. Earn it, work for it.... Plus C&W done naturalised
    • i from here (13/10/2015, 15:42) Like (0) Dislike (0) Reply
      @wize up

      Well said! CCT all the way!
  • wow (13/10/2015, 08:52) Like (7) Dislike (0) Reply

    And then we will live in the court house paying through our @$$e$. When will these people realize that if we want to play in the big leagues we need to step up to the plate? Telecoms is not a road work or trucking contract, it is serious business and cannot be dealt with in a haphazard manner.

    • @SMH (13/10/2015, 11:30) Like (2) Dislike (3) Reply

      Your obviously not a CCT customer or someone paying attention. Are you trying to say that locals don't know how to run a serious business? Then you should be ashamed because locals are capable of far more high level stuff than you realize!!! It has only been since becoming 100% locally owned the CCT has made huge investments in the network. The network quality is way better that ever before. And the level of customer service is top notch. And while continued improvement they haven't even changed their calling plans -- only to add more value!!!
      • wow (13/10/2015, 12:51) Like (2) Dislike (2) Reply
        You're obviously guilty or have a chip on your shoulder. Where in my post did I even mention CCT? If they are so good why are they always the ones crying? You put a Lawyer to run a Telecoms company and surprised by the results? This has nothing to do with local or not.
        • @SMH (13/10/2015, 15:34) Like (0) Dislike (0) Reply

          The chip I have on my shoulders is people with no country pride hate on people for no reason.
  • just do it (13/10/2015, 09:36) Like (0) Dislike (6) Reply
    The TRC can only follow The Act that was made law. It's time that the Government steps up from behind the curtain and writes a POLICY that gives CCT a home court advantage. Barring that, CCT must follow the law or no Judge can help them. They simply have too much Spectrum and by law have to give up some to get some. Yeah it sucks but it's Law.
    • smh (13/10/2015, 11:54) Like (5) Dislike (2) Reply
      How come no one ever says LIME had to much copper wire and simply have to give up some? In other countries when they liberalized telecom they nationalized the wire infrastructure and companies had to rent it so anyone could have land lines. After all Cable & Wireless has long since been compensated for their investment in wire infrastructure. Or how come no one ever says CCT should be compensated for the spectrum seized by the government to facilitate other providers. Everywhere else where the countries are auctioning spectrum they must first buy spectrum from current holders via a reverse auction. In BVI we just take from the local company but we don't take from the others. In BVI spectrum is valuable to the government, valuable to foreign telecoms but somehow worthless when CCT has it. These kind of double standard are killing local enterprise.
  • long look me come from (13/10/2015, 09:44) Like (9) Dislike (5) Reply
    this mentality has always killed locals they hate each other leave cct alone they are one of us
    • farmer brown (13/10/2015, 12:12) Like (7) Dislike (2) Reply
      I remeber when we were being charge for incoming and out going calls by CCT talk that!
      • wize u (13/10/2015, 13:15) Like (1) Dislike (0) Reply
        @ farmer brown: I hear you but you missed the most important fact in your statement: we PAID our BILLS(talk that 2): these days some of US love to much !ucking free-ness(ghetto vibes).....stop insulting our people BUT I understand your argument
  • cay (13/10/2015, 11:02) Like (0) Dislike (4) Reply
    whe richard was at PWD he was a failure colud not even gotten confirmed to the posy let he hust he dead ram


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