Complying with an order issued by District Court of Guam Chief Judge Frances Tydingco-Gatewood, the Government of Guam met today's deadline to submit its financing plan for the $20,000,000 to begin the construction of the landfill in Layon.  Governor Felix Camacho signed Bill 383 last week, providing options to come up with money.   

Meanwhile included in the submission to the court today was proposed legislation from Adelup that would authorize the island's public sector to issue solid waste management system revenue bonds for the purpose of financing the solid waste management system of Guam. Approximately $160,000,000 of capital funding will be needed to meet the requirements of the consent decree. 

Already great concern's been shown about a new bill put forth by a pair of Democrats seeking to ensure competition within that line of work for the improvement of rates for advanced communications services and of the island's infrastructure.  While the public hearing for the "GTA Level Playing Act" isn't until later this week, the carriers themselves weighed-in with their own thoughts on the matter, speculating on how the proposed regulation of an already hypercompetitive industry will affect their businesses.

The deconstruction of the old Ma Bell telecommunications structure ultimately gave rise to a revolution in services, products and companies.  So is Bill 391, which suggests further deregulation and having already drawn a fair amount of controversy without even having had a public hearing, a progressive step forward or does the notion of leveling out the playing field stymie this critical industry?  

Carl Leon Guerrero, executive vice-president of operations for GTA TeleGuam says his company is fully behind it.  He told KUAM News, "GTA fully supports the bill and there's three reasons why: first, we believe it opens up competition fairly between local companies; it also protects all the consumers and businesses from phone rates; and third, it also proved for quality of services for all companies to follow."

To the contrary, Pacific Data Systems' John Day says the bill's intent to foster competition is misleading, with the end result being an elimination of other players in the lucrative telecommunications game.  "It's going to cause less competition," he simply stated.  "And it's disingenuous of the bill when it says the bill is there to increase competition; it's not.  It's to kill competition.  That's what this bill does."

Co-sponsored by senators Tina Muna-Barnes and David Shimizu, Bill 391 wants to set limits on pricing and enforce tight standards for quality of service, such as support response and turnaround times for accounts.  Continued Leon Guerrero, "Back in 2004 before we became privatized consumer were paying wireless bills that were $150 for 300 minutes - now you can get 500 minutes for $50.  So we think that's a good thing - fair and balanced competition will spawn better pricing, as well as better services for the consumer."

As for the ultimate goal of being a driver for continued innovation on Guam, as far as letting firms build their networks, develop advanced communications platforms and offer aggressive rates, Leon Guerrero says this will greatly help GTA serve the island.  "We're the only one that is tired to a regulatory body that requires us to conform to quality of service standards," he pointed out.  "We think that's important for all the companies to follow, because from a consumer perspective everybody will have that protection from them."

But Day says under the language of the legislation, this simply won't be the case.  "I think that's the chocolate covering or the sugar coating on the bitter pill of this bill.  The first part of this bill talks about a lot of noble things, but when you read it, and when you take the bill as a whole piece of legislation it has no effect in creating innovation," he stated.  

Day also notes a wider and more disturbing net effect, should the legislation pass, adding, "Now instead of embracing competition, becoming more competitive and more aggressive with their products and their services, they've taken another route where they're trying to kill the competition rather than to become more competitive.  And we think that's a bad thing.

"And quite frankly, we don't think the Legislature doesn't understand their true motives."

A public hearing for Bill 391 is on the books for this Thursday in Hagatna.

Tags: bill 391, gta teleguam, pds, technology, telecommunications

If you're getting ready to make some home improvements, we'll tell you about an environmentally friendly type of paint brought to Guam by Paintco Incorporated.  According to sales executive Ed Manuel, for the past year the company has been brining in Cerami Fresh Paint produced by SKK Products in Japan.

So what makes this paint different from any other brand? Manuel says it's because it has fewer volatile organic compounds.  "VOC can harm the environment; when you put a paint it can dry and come all over the atmosphere and destroy the atmosphere. This paint is a low VOC. There's less, so it's good," he explained.

Manuel adds that besides being better for the environment, Cerami Fresh paint is dirt resistant, has superior washability and is also resistant to bacteria and mildew.  He says for coffee stains and marker mishaps, simply cleaning the affected area with a dampened tissue will leave the area spotless.

Now on Guam, we have graffiti problems, so how do you get rid of that?  Said Manuel, "You take a little bit of paint thinner and just wipe it off. See the paint comes out but the Cerami Fresh stays." Currently, according to Manuel, Cerami Fresh is being used to paint the GCIC Building in Hagatna. He adds that Paintco has white Cerami Fresh in stock, but can do custom color orders for those interested.

For more information about Cermi Fresh contact Paintco in Maite at 472-7770.

The Office of the Public Auditor has issued a decision, findings and recommendations for an appeal issued by Island Business Systems and Supplies regarding the Guam Public School System's receipt of copier equipment and related services from Xerox Corporation. According to the decision, GPSS improperly sole-sourced the Document Services Agreement to Xerox and improperly extended it.