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Negotiations between GTA, IT&E fall through
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Posted on Dec 08 2013
A ranking executive of Guam-based GTA Services LLC disclosed that negotiations between the company and its competitor, IT&E, havr failed, leaving the parties to await their chances both in court and the Commonwealth Public Utilities Commission.
GTA TeleGuam executive vice president Daniel J. Tydingco also told Saipan Tribune that the company remains committed to expanding its business to the Commonwealth.
“GTA remains interested in expanding services to the CNMI for the benefit of subscribers here and there,” he said.
The official revealed that both GTA and IT&E were asked by parties to try to sit down and negotiate but these efforts have all failed.
“We were asked by parties if we could sit down and negotiate a stipulation with IT&E. Efforts to reach a stipulation have been unsuccessful and our local CNMI legal counsel, Mike Evangelista, has notified the CNMI PUC of that recently,” said Tydingco.
He disclosed that the disposition of the legal case that IT&E filed on Saipan will proceed with the CNMI court.
“We will be awaiting direction and instructions from both the court and the PUC,” he added.
In October 2011, the CPUC approved Guam-based GTA’s application to provide local exchange services within the Commonwealth. The company initially planned to begin operation in the CNMI in mid-2012 but that did not happen after IT&E sought a rehearing on GTA’s application and then filed a case against the CPUC on the decision it made on GTA.
GTA’s entry to the CNMI was supposed to be the company’s the first major coverage expansion outside of Guam since it was privatized in 2005.
