The Prime Minister has said sourcing funding is necessary for the Telecommunications Services of TT's (TSTT) ongoing restructuring process.
Couva South MP Rudranath Indarsingh called on Dr Rowley to say whether TSTT has secured a $476 million loan to facilitate its retrenchment exercise during the Prime Minister’s Questions segment in Parliament on Wednesday.
Rowley said, “Funding is required to support the restructuring effort, and TSTT, which is 51 per cent owned by the local population and 49 per cent by a foreign company, is in the process of securing the necessary loan financing. Due to the sensitivity of this matter, and the stage it has reached, it would be premature and irresponsible of me to say anything further at this time.”
In a release on Saturday TSTT identified several factors, including the economic conditions of the covid19 pandemic and the increased use of social apps for services, that made the restructuring necessary.
TSTT further pointed to records of its revenue falling by $453 million during the past financial year ended March 31, 2021, 18 per cent less than for the same period in 2020.
When asked to confirm rumours that 573 TSTT employees would be retrenched, Rowley said the matter of the number of people or anyone's being retrenched has not been decided.
“The restructuring details are under way within the company, and we will await the outcome of those discussions in the proper and normal manner.”
TSTT rejected reports that 573 of its workers had been identified to be sent home.
The company said because the proposal is still in its formative stages “only after the consultations have been completed...the proposed size and shape of the organisation will be determined, and the actual number of any impacted employees will be known.”
On February 1, it submitted a proposal to its representative majority unions and its management staff on restructuring the company
On February 4, it started the process of securing funding from the financial markets to cover the separation costs of its proposed restructuring.
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