The “elaborate telecommunications” buildout undertaken by the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GT&T) since the signing in 1991 of an agreement with the Government of Guyana and Atlantic Tele Network (ATN) has completely revolutionized several critical sectors of the Guyanese economy and improved the quality of life in Guyana as a whole, according to the company’s Deputy General Manager, Public Communications, Terry Holder.
Holder told Stabroek Business that GT&T had impacted on Guyana’s commercial, industrial, banking, internet, data transmission and various other sectors and, additionally, has realized “the vital objective of creating an efficient communication system with the international community.” He added that what was particularly pleasing to GT&T was that its work in Guyana had contributed to enhancing the quality of life of ordinary Guyanese by providing them with “reliable means of communication over long distances,” a facility which he said had been lacking prior to the advent of the company.
“These achievements are not just an idle boast. The facilities and the infrastructure are there for all to see,” Holder said.
Earlier this week Stabroek Business spoke with a team of GT&T officials including Holder, Director of Consumer Affairs, Pam Briggs, Planning Engineer Ian McFarlane and Public Relations Officer Allison Parker about the company’s countrywide land line buildout. Briggs told Stabroek Business that immediately prior to the advent of GT&T, the telephone service in Guyana comprised around 13,000 land-lines, many of which were not in working order. “Today we have 128,000 digitized land-line services and we are still proceeding with our build-out,” Briggs said.
According to Holder GT&T had invested more than US$260M in Guyana up to this time. He explained that the company had confronted and overcome many of the “peculiar challenges” associated with building an efficient and reliable network in Guyana. Holder told Stabroek Business that the cost of creating an efficient network in Guyana was much more expensive than in some other Caribbean territories given the nature of the terrain. “Sometimes we hear comments about the quality of the telephone service in Barbados, for example, as compared with Guyana. What is often not taken account of is the fact that in a country like Barbados the terrain poses fewer challenges and the cost of infrastructure installation is much cheaper,” he said.
Mc Farlane explained that the mountainous terrain in some parts of Guyana had given rise to the need to apply expensive switches and satellite technology and to use more labour as well as more skilled labour in providing telephone services in areas with such terrain. Mabaruma, Port Kaituma and Lethem were cited as areas where such technology had been employed and where, according to Briggs, the high cost of installation and of providing an efficient and sustained service rendered the company’s profit margin negligible.
In recent weeks GT&T and its competitor in the cellular service industry, DIGICEL, have traded words over the former’s international monopoly. While DIGICEL has accused GT&T of using its monopoly to charge high tariffs for its international service, GT&T has retorted that a part of the earnings from its overseas service has been used to help finance its local land-line build-out.
DIGICEL has said that it wants to see a hastening of discussions that would lead to the end of the monopoly since it says that it can provide an international dialling service within an hour of the end of the monopoly.
Earlier this week Holder confirmed that discussions between ATN and the Government of Guyana over the monopoly were “imminent” but that GT&T could not, alone, determine a timetable for the discussions.
Briggs told Stabroek Business that GT&T had virtually completed the creation of an entire coastal network in Guyana.
She said that work towards the full completion of this service was currently underway in the West Coast Berbice area between Belladrum and El Dorado.
“Having completed our coastal service we are now working on several requests for second lines,” Briggs said.
According to Briggs the company was particularly pleased with the installation of its rural radio service which, she said, was an integral part of the “universal access” concept that underpinned the GT&T build-out. She said that while the company’s plans did not envisage a phone in every home, the rural radio facility would contribute significantly to moving Guyana closer to universal access.
Briggs disclosed that the GT&T land-line upgrading programme included the installation of increased switching and line plant capacity in several areas including sections of the East Coast Demerara, Berbice, East Bank, West Coast Demerara and Georgetown., She told Stabroek Business which the other areas which will be affected by upgrading work before the end of December include sections of Georgetown, Berbice and Linden
Apart from its 128,000 fixed lines, GT&T currently provides 1,850 international circuits compared with 99 in 1991 and 725 portable call boxes where none existed in 1991.
