THE EDITOR, Sir:

Minister of Finance, Audley Shaw in giving favourable consideration to the grant of a licence to a telecommunication giant emphasised the need for competition in his consideration as stated by him, recently. I submit that in making this statement he was discarding his minister of finance hat for his political hat.

In this context, as minister of finance, profitability for viability, and more so for revenue, should be his principal concerns so that the people he expects to benefit from competition, but also from taxation.

We have a saying in this country, "Too much monkey nuh boil good soup", and the saying is very relevant here where, for example, it cannot be denied that over-competition has been making the once profitable communications giant, Cable & Wireless, so unprofitable that it cannot pay the large amount of tax it used to pay, and the price of the stock on the Exchange fell to as low as 51 cents and has been just above that over an extended period in an obviously saturated market environment.

This by necessary implication leaves no room for a new payer unless the new payer can pay if not all a great portion of our national debt to enter the market. Think, Mr Minister, think fast and think again.

I am, etc.,

OWEN S. CROSBIE

Mandeville