GTA TeleGuam has been lobbying lawmakers to oppose competitor IT&E’s grant application for an $89 million stimulus fund grant, saying that the grant being sought will be used to fund a private company, which will result in unfair competition.
Lawmakers said they want to make sure that the competitive balance is maintained and that private investment continues to be “stimulated without any one competitor being given government assistance to overbuild existing network facilities,” which GTA TeleGuam said would occur if IT&E were awarded the grant.
If the grant were to be awarded to IT&E, the resolution requests that the grant money be equally apportioned to all established telecommunications companies.
IT&E was recently awarded $8 million from the federal broadband stimulus funds to upgrade its own facilities in the CNMI and Guam and on the submarine cable between the two insular areas.
IT&E applied for the round 2 grant, seeking an additional $89 million to provide a typhoon-proof, survivable, self-healing fiber option broadband backbone network.
GTA claims that IT&E misrepresented itself in the grant application.
IT&E executive vice president Larry Knecht called GTA’s ploy a “desperate attempt to create confusion over the evaluation process.”
He said since GTA chose not to submit its own round two application, it had no choice but to politicize the process.
He said GTA should not have pushed senators to adopt a resolution because it only rushed things and did not allow the public or other interested parties to comment on the issue.
Although GTA claims that no further infrastructure is required on Guam, Knecht said numerous letters of support from government agencies in Guam and the CNMI have stated otherwise.
Knecht said the legislative resolution could jeopardize IT&E’s chance at receiving the $89 million in stimulus funds.
“The communities of Guam and the CNMI have so much to gain and nothing to lose,” said Knecht.
He said awarding of the grant would be a once in a lifetime opportunity to provide critical infrastructure to the communities of Guam and the CNMI.
