On 29th March, 2019 the Court of Appeal handed down its decision in the matter of Symbiote Investments Limited v. The Minister of Science, Energy and Technology and The Office of Utilities Regulation. The Court denied Symbiote’s application to stay the Minister of Science Energy and Technology’s decision to revoke its telecommunications licenses and also revoked its previous order granting them leave to appeal. The OUR was represented by LIVAL’s Daniella Gentles-Silvera and Kathryn Williams.
Last year, Symbiote sought leave to apply for judicial review of the decision of the Minister to revoke its telecommunications licenses. In December 2018, The Hon. Mr Justice Stamp accepted all arguments made by the Lival team on behalf of the OUR, and refused leave on the basis that Symbiote’s application had no realistic prospect of success. On 17th December, 2018, the Court of Appeal granted Symbiote leave to appeal this decision but after hearing arguments advanced by the OUR opposing the application, the Court ultimately decided to revoke the order granting the company leave. The Court of Appeal also accepted the OUR’s arguments in relation to Symbiote’s application for a stay of the Minister’s revocation of their telecommunications licenses and refused the application.
The matter holds wide national and international interest as it concerns the grant and ultimately the revocation of a third telecommunications licence to Symbiote in Jamaica’s highly competitive telecommunications industry. The full decision of the Court of Appeal can be found here.