Regulator would be “crazy” to shut off phones

Eamon Courtenay

With a permanent injunction now in force on the P.U.C. from collecting, might it decide to withdraw the approval and potentially cripple Speednet’s reach across Belize? The company has more than one hundred thousand customers, and Courtenay told us that no court would look favorably on such a mean-spirited move.

Eamon Courtenay, Attorney for Speednet

“Speednet is currently using that portion of the radio frequency for mobile. It has provisional approval from the P.U.C. It would be an abuse to the over one hundred thousand Belizeans who are using Speednet cell phones for the P.U.C. to say, ‘I, P.U.C., have not re-assigned this; I have not granted a license, I have allowed Speednet to do this for nearly ten years, and now I’m going to bar them and disconnect over a hundred thousand people’ – we would be back in court immediately and I am confident that a court will not allow the P.U.C. to do that. It would be crazy. They need to do what is right – reassign the spectrum, issue a license, and charge fees going forward. In the meantime, Speednet will continue to use it with their provisional approval.”

The P.U.C. is represented by Senior Counsel Fred Lumor, who declined comment when we contacted his office on whether the P.U.C. will appeal. The regulator has also been ordered to pay costs in the case as agreed or assessed.