New legislation before the Senate, together with more staff for the Department of Telecommunications will make the process by which long distance carriers apply to the authorities to lower rates, less onerous, the Technology and Information Minister, John Barritt said this week.

The Minister said his Ministry has obtained more funding for the Telecommunications Department, and, a full complement of nine commissioners under the Telecommunications Act.

Senators will debate on Monday The Telecommunications Amendment Act 1997, an effort to significantly update the 1986 Telecommunications Act.

But he said on Wednesday, "The budget has been increased in order to give the commission the staff it needs and the resources it needs.'' It takes 30 to 45 days from the time of an application to a decision, and the Minister conceded such a time frame may have been a complaint of C&W in the past.

But he said, "We're hoping to be able to shorten that. One of the things that government is proposing is a band of rates so that Cable & Wireless and Telco, as specified carriers, could vary their rates within a floor and ceiling range of prices, without requiring permission.

"We haven't nailed down a ceiling and a floor, but obviously we are interested in Cable & Wireless' proposal in that regard, hearing what they have to say about it.'' It may come as a source of comfort to Cable & Wireless Bermuda, whose spokesman, John Instone said this week, "We have never been allowed to lower our prices without permission of the telecommunications commission. Every time we want to lower our prices, we have to gazette a notice inviting an objection. And then 21 days after the notice appears, we apply to the commission to institute those decreases. This happened in November when we reduced the long distance charges to a number of places. The only objection came from TeleBermuda International, which is what delayed it until the new year.

"That is the process we have to go through. We can only do what the government will allow us to do. So we can say yes, we can drop our prices to whatever, but if the government doesn't allow us to do that... "And there are all indications that they will not allow us to do that. We can only hope that people are going to continue to rely on the quality of service that we've always been providing.

"The Minister has said that there will be a transition period during which time we will not be able to reduce our rates.'' Government policy restricts anti-competitive moves by Cable & Wireless, such as seeking to undercut their new competition. These restrictions were established for a specific period, while would-be competitors, such as TeleBermuda International can get on their feet.

But the Minister said, "As far as I'm aware, all applications that Cable & Wireless have made in the last three years, where they have sought to lower rates for voice services, have been approved.'' C&W has made no applications to lower rates on traffic to Canada, the US and the UK in three years. The last application was made December 1, 1993, when most rates dropped about ten cents a minute. The Bermuda Telephone Company further reduced overseas rates by a nickel a minute, as of January 1, 1997, when they simultaneously increased local telephone rates.

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