It's official, Caricel telecommunication licences pulled

The Government has officially yanked the licences issued to telecommunications company Symbiote Investments, which trades as Caricel.

 

RJR News has received a copy of a letter from the Technology Ministry to Symbiote yesterday advising it of the decision. The letter, which was signed by Technology Minister Dr. Andrew Wheatley, made reference to a letter sent to Symbiote on November 17 last year outlining that the Office of  Utilities Regulation had recommended that its licences be revoked on the basis that the company failed to provide information.

 

The Technology Ministry says this was a breach of the Telecommunications Act. It says Symbiote was given until December 1 to indicate why its licences should not be revoked.

 

According to the letter, Symbiote failed to give a reason. As a result, its six licences have been revoked. 

 

This comes two weeks after the Technology Minister informed the House of  Representatives that the process to revoke the licences had begun.

 

Contractor General Dirk Harrison earlier this year said reports of the sale of  Caricel to the South African firm Involution had left him concerned about the manner in which it had been done. He said there were questions concerning whether there were breaches of the Telecommunications Act. These included whether the South African company had complied with all the obligations of Caricel's licence and the requirements imposed by Cabinet in 2016, and whether it had supplied all the relevant documents to the regulators.