Mobile telecommunications provider Digicel is expected to receive formal approval soon for its own submarine fibre optic cable, which it plans to use to enhance its services with the expected liberalisation of the telecoms sector.
Former president Bharrat Jagdeo last Friday signalled that government may have granted permission to the company, although when asked by Stabroek News about approval Digicel Guyana Chief Executive Officer Gregory Dean said it was “a question for the government.”
“Now Digicel has applied to bring in another cable and I think the government has given them permission,” Jagdeo told attendees at the Guyana Manufactur-ing and Services Association dinner held last Friday at the Princess Hotel.
The Ramotar administration has not said anything on the possible cable for Digicel.
Jagdeo was at the time addressing criticisms of government’s lack of development of the Information and Communica-tions Technology (ICT) sector. He said that ICT development formed part of a four-pronged strategy that the Donald Ramotar administration is working on as it pushes to develop a green economy. “For those who don’t think we have a plan, I have seen and stayed quiet and it’s hard to do so because I’ve seen the comments that we don’t have a vision for ICT,” he stated.
Dean told Stabroek News that with liberalisation of the sector expected to come before the year ends, his company plans to use the cable, which “is part and parcel of our plans… we are hoping for a fully liberalised sector soon and nothing in our past plans for the sector has changed.”
Back in June, Dean had told Stabroek News that liberalisation of the telecommunications sector will set the stage for the company to become fully competitive with the Guyana Telephone & Telegraph Company (GT&T).
Although the National Assembly is expected to convene sometime this month, it is unclear whether the long delayed Telecommunication Bill will be given attention in the face of the AFC pushing for its no-confidence motion against the government to be given priority. The Bill, which will pave the way for liberalisation of the sector, was tabled since August 2012.
Further, Dean had pointed out that Digicel will commence providing international calls instantaneously following liberalisation. He said too that Digicel is seriously looking to improve its data service, specifically smart-phone services, and liberalisation of the sector is imperative for this to happen. Dean noted that seven years after penetrating the Guyana market, Digicel continues to use the Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution (EGDE) network while the vast majority of other Caribbean countries have long moved on to 4G and LTE.
4G is the Fourth Generation of mobile telecommunications technology. According to Dean, 4G offers internet speeds up to fourteen times faster than EDGE, meaning that smartphone users will see the speed and quality of their mobile internet services increase monumentally. LTE (Long Term Evolution) also provides services vastly superior to those offered by EDGE.
He said that Guyana is one of the last of Digicel’s markets to go 4G. “Given the demand in Guyana (Guyana is one of Digicel’s largest markets) I think we should have been one of the first Digicel markets really to go 4G and I think for us it’s a disappointment that we’re still providing an EDGE service in 2014,” the CEO lamented.
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The deficiency means that Guyanese cannot make optimal use of their smartphones.
Aside from data services and international calling, Digicel also wants to offer general broadband and landline services.
A 2012 report by the Inter-American Development Bank, ‘Socioeconomic Impact of Broadband in Latin American and Caribbean Countries,’ stated that the percentage of Guyana’s population that has consistent access to Broadband (around 5 percent) is among the lowest of all Latin American and Caribbean countries, while the prices charged to access same is among the highest.
Low broadband accessibility levels can pose problems for individual development, as well as a country’s overall development. The same report found that increases in broadband penetration were directly linked to increases in Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Jagdeo in his address pointed to the study, saying it was used as background for having government bring a fibre optic cable from Brazil to couple with GT&T’s and now Digicel, thus increasing bandwidth . He said that liberalisation of the sector, bringing more bandwidth, giving free internet to those who cannot afford it, establishing internet hubs in Amerindian villages and government’s One Laptop Per Family project were the ways government was developing the sector.
