WiMax is a wireless digital communications system which can provide broadband wireless access up to 30 miles for fixed stations, and three to 10 miles for mobile stations. The 4G stands for fourth-generation wireless, the stage of broadband mobile communications that will supersede the third generation (3G) of wireless.
Addressing a gathering of business leaders, diplomats and government officials briefly at the Georgetown Club, Persaud said the benefits for Guyanese were simple. “There’s no need for an installation crew to visit your home or office, you can buy a modem at any wireless retailer and use it wherever you are in the coverage area, the speed surpasses that of the current wire line infrastructure in Guyana and most importantly E-Networks will offer flexible prepaid plans starting as low as $1,000 that would make internet access affordable to every Guyanese.”
E-Networks has partnered with Chinese firm Huawei to bring the WiMax network to Guyana.
President Bharrat Jagdeo delivered the feature address and called the event a celebration of the vision that brought the company from an idea to a major new technology entity in Guyana.
However, he wasted little time after that before slamming a Stabroek Business article, which stated that four local companies were to be licensed under the “deregulated telecommunications regime” once a recently completed telecoms draft bill becomes law. According to Jagdeo, they were “liberalizing” the sector not deregulating it.
“We plan to liberalise telecommunications in Guyana and there will be several pieces of legislation that are part of the package that we are consulting on now that will go to the parliament that would allow for greater consumer protection, pricing policy, interconnection, regulation of the new liberalised environment,” the president said.
He also took umbrage at what he said were insinuations in the article that two of the four companies, E-Networks and Quark Communications Inc., were being treated favourably because of their political affiliations. The E-Networks founder is the son of former PPP/C minister Reepu Daman Persaud while Quark is owned by Brian Yong, who campaigned for the PPP/C during the last general elections. “Yet they did not mention that another company, another one of the four, one of the principals of that company, in fact the main person, is the husband of the prime ministerial candidate of the AFC,” Jagdeo declared, a reference to I-Net’s Noel Holder..
He added that they were not supporting the companies because of their political affiliations but because of their vision and hard work. “These four companies that were mentioned are the ones who led the charge to erode the monopoly of GT&T … and they have introduced new technologies when we were struggling with bad services because of lack of competition,” the president said.
The other company set to join GT&T and Digicel as telecommunications service providers under the revised legislation is Nexlink Communication.
