An Open Telecommunications Market in Antigua The once conventional thinking that Telecommunications is a natural monopoly is now defunct. It is now accepted wisdom that many telecom companies can exist in one market. This is primarily driven by the speed with which technology is moving at and the continuous dropping prices of computing power. An open market in telecommunications means that there will be competition in the all the telecommunications market, i.e. Cable and Wireless will not be the only provider for international service, and APUA will not be the only provider of local wireline service. An open telecommunications market all translates to ever decreasing prices for the consumer. However a new concern arises for the Government, an Open Market can mean the potential for all sorts of abuses that the customer can potentially endure. Introduction of different types of legislation to protect against “spamming” and “slamming.” Additionally, while most potential telecom players want to see a country have an open market so that they can get in, once in they tend to want the Government to introduce legislation that would “protect their investment,” in effect companies would want monopoly protection. Telecom companies as a general rule do not want the removal of roadblocks to interoperability and openness; words like number portability are things that they do not want to hear about. However, while the Government of Antigua and Barbuda will give support and encourage the development of open and interoperable standards and sees this as a primary strategy for removing unnecessary barriers to trade, it will maintain or reserve the right to ensure the protection of its people. Additionally, it will always tend to give preferential treatment to the natives of Antigua and Barbuda and will indeed reserve certain services or a percent of those services for their provisioning. “Spamming” the unwanted advertisements that occur while visiting certain websites on the Internet. “Slamming” the unauthorized switching of customers from one telecom provider to another. 10