CONSUMERS who migrated to FLOW from LIME in search of cheaper and more customer-friendly telecoms services should not now become victims of recriminations with the latter’s multibillion dollar buyout of its competitor.
And Opposition Barbados Labour Party (BLP) spokesman on business, Kerrie Symmonds, MP, has called on Government and the Fair Trading Commission (FTC) to tighten regulations as a matter of urgency to protect the rights of consumers so they won’t have to pay
the same high rates from which they moved away.
“These are bread and butter matters about which Barbadians cannot afford to be kept in the dark,” Symmonds told the DAILY NATION yesterday.
“The Government as well as the regulatory authority must now be in a position to say to the country that guarantees and assurances were given that consumers who previously moved away from LIME will now have their rights protected so that they do not wake up next month or six months from now and find themselves paying the same high rates that they moved away from before and they must be assured that there will be no recriminations in terms of after sales services.”
Last Wednesday, Cable & Wireless, which trades as LIME in the Caribbean, announced a purchase agreement with Columbus International (FLOW) for US$3.2 billion in a deal that drew immediate widespread criticism as posing a threat to competition here and in the region. (AB)
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