Residents of the Bath Settlement area can now use their cellular phones without worrying about hearing the “no service” recording since the Guyana Telephone & Telegraph Company (GT&T) officially commissioned a new cellular site there on Wednesday.
The site which is equipped with a 165-ft tower was installed at a cost of US$250,000 and became effective about three weeks ago.
According to GT&T’s Director of Marketing & Sales Michael George, the company has been moving aggressively to expand its cellular service but they need feedback from the community about what service they require.
He said fibre optic disruption had now become a norm but it was out of GT&T’s control. He noted, however, that it was difficult for the service to be affected by vandalism.
The construction of the facility at Bath would reduce the gap in service which existed in West Berbice and contribute to the “seamless service that GT&T intends to provide.”
Director of Customer Service, Pamela Briggs, informed the gathering that the landline switch at Bath has the capacity to hold 640 lines and is expandable to hold an additional 640.
She said Region Five (Mahaica/West Berbice) currently has 5,500 landlines that are spread out between exchanges at Rosignol, Mahaicony, Bush Lot, Blairmont, Bath, Tempe, Shieldstown and Planter’s Hall.
She promised that by year-end the region would benefit from an additional 2,500 lines, while noting that before the advent of GT&T there were only 200 telephone lines in the region.
Minister of Human Services & Social Security Priya Manickchand encouraged residents to use the service as best as they can and to report any form of vandalism.
The minister said when GT&T assumed office in Guyana the task had seemed insurmountable. However, government has made it clear that it is creating an environment to offer telephone services and that communication was born out of a pledge to provide the technology.
In his remarks, Regional Chairman Harrinarine Baldeo said with the setting up of exchanges there has been a marked improvement in the cellular service in the region. He said in this modern world where the free market plays an important role, GT&T has to take the initiative.
Baldeo said other companies like Digicel are setting up similar services in Bath and he is glad to hear that with the competition, GT&T is working to improve and expand its services. Also present at the commissioning were Deputy General Manager, Public Communication, Terry Holder, who chaired the event, Chief Executive Officer of GT&T, Major General (Ret’d) Joseph Singh and Carl DeMattos, Manager, Customer Service.