FLOW's Stephen Price Endorses NaRRA Bill, Cites 14-Month Delays for Telecoms Site Approvals

WESTERN BUREAU: The vice-president and general manager of FLOW Jamaica, Stephen Price, has come out in support of the planned National Regulatory Reform Authority (NaRRA), saying the country can no longer afford the red tape that is holding back the rollout of essential infrastructure.

Speaking on Tuesday at the 20th annual conference of the Organisation of Caribbean Utility Regulators (OOCUR), being held in Trelawny, Price said: "I am happy to see the NaRRA kind of legislation for Jamaica, which is, hopefully, to get stuff done much more efficiently and pushed through so that big projects can get done."

He added: "It shouldn't have to come to this. We have to find a way how the regulators help in terms of connecting the dots to help us really do the greater good for the country."

Price was among the panellists at a Utility Service Providers Round Table convened under the theme 'Utility Perspectives on Regulation: Challenges, Opportunities, and Learnings'. While he welcomed NaRRA as a step forward, he insisted the broader regulatory framework must move in step with the pressures bearing down on modern telecommunications.

"Think about the landscape we are heading into for small developing states like ourselves. Technology is extremely expensive," he said, pointing out that affordability will continue to weigh on consumers. "The cry is always going to be on affordability … and the consumer in our small island and developing space to afford this is a significant cost," Price said, suggesting that cost pressure will push the country further toward wireless options. "So we are going to have to push for more wireless technology."

He warned, however, that moving to next-generation networks such as 5G would demand far more equipment on the ground. "If we are unlocking faster technology, be it 5G as the case may be, you are going to have to have densities of coverage. And with densities of coverage, you need more towers or poles in order to proliferate the technology right across the country," Price said.

The FLOW executive identified regulatory hold-ups as one of the biggest stumbling blocks, disclosing that activating a single telecoms site can stretch beyond a year. "Think about what we have to do to get one site up in my country. It takes an average of probably about 14 months … because I have to go through NEPA (National Environment Protection Agency), Ministry of Health, municipality, all these things in order to get a site up," he said.

"These are technologies that are used globally. We have done the debunking, but still, we have to go through this process over and over again," Price added.

He contended that better coordination between regulators and government agencies, alongside slimmer approval pathways, would translate into far wider coverage nationwide. "We could have much more proliferation of coverage right across this country if we were able to unlock that," he said.

Price also drew a direct line between telecoms expansion and the country's economic output. "Every single per cent of penetration that we achieve in any country spins off two to three per cent of GDP," he said.

On Tuesday night, the House of Representatives passed the National Reconstruction and Resilience Authority (NaRRA) Bill, an important step toward setting up a central body to spearhead Jamaica's recovery from Hurricane Melissa. The legislation now heads to the Senate for further debate.