Telecommunications | CTM to have its contract renewed

Raimundo do Rosário

The Secretary for Transport and Public Works, Raimundo do Rosário, said yesterday that CTM will automatically have its telecommunications services concession renewed for another five years after December 31, unless, before this date, the company incurs a serious breach of local regulations and laws. Alternatively, the concession renewal could be cancelled if the city finds strong reasons that support the revoking of the contract renewal, he said.
On the sidelines of a meeting with the Legislative Assembly (AL) Follow-up Committee for Public Administration, the secretary admitted that if the government does not renew the contract with CTM in view of ample public interests, then both parties will be involved in a dispute to settle due compensations. As indicated by Rosário, the government would be required to pay CTM 2.5 times the net profits the company would collect in one year before taxation. This amount would be calculated on the basis of average annual profits for the last three years.
In 2009, Macau granted CTM exclusivity in providing public telecommunications services, as well as the installment and management of all telecommunication systems and equipment in the city. The concession started on January 1 of 2012, and it will be renewed for another five years, until December 31 of 2021, if there is no serious breach of regulations or laws.
However, the concession is an unfair contract claimed lawmaker Chan Meng Kam yesterday, since residents must pay high prices for often sub-par services. Chan added that CTM’s profit margins are exceptionally high, especially for its model of charging competitor services to use the CTM network.
“The government admitted that there are many unreasonable articles and problems in the contract,” Chan added.
Local internet fiber access is additionally mainly managed by CTM. Other operators that intend to enter the market in the MSAR are currently required to make considerable payments in order to rent the service from CTM.
According to TDM, Chan also said that other service providers have confided in him that CTM takes in as much as MOP80 in immediate profit for each MOP100 it charges to other service providers using the company’s infrastructure.
He also noted that greater problems in telecommunication services might afflict the territory if the government suddenly stops the contract at the very end of this year. Hence, Chan hopes that the local government can assume the responsibility of managing telecommunication infrastructure in the near future in order not to be too reliant on any one service provider. Staff reporter