President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Atlantic Tele Network (ATN) Michael Prior says that the modernisation of the local telecommunications sector with the laying of the fibre optic cable is a good investment for Guyana.
Prior, accompanied by ATN’s President of International Operations Paul Bowersock and CEO of the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph (GT&T) Yog Mahadeo, met President Donald Ramotar at the Office of the President Wednesday, the Government Information Agency (GINA) reported.
Prior told GINA that the company always looks forward to collaborating with the government in modernising the telecommunications infrastructure.
“GT&T has been a main partner in that and ATN, as a shareholder, supports it… we have invested a lot in Guyana and we will continue to be a major part of the growth of the economy,” Prior is quoted as saying in a brief interview with GINA after the meeting.
The CEO, who witnessed the launch of GT&T’s “Emagine broadband” two years ago, described it as a necessary investment for the company and shareholders and indicated that more plans are in the making.
“You have to start with infrastructure… it takes time to build… You have seen from the new store and the new BlackBerry series that we are continuing to invest and modernize. We are going to continue to improve customer care and service,” Prior said.
It July 2010, GT&T officially launched its Suriname Guyana – Submarine Cable System (SG-SCS) that connects Guyana and Suriname to Trinidad and Tobago and hence to the rest of the world.
The 1,240 cable was part of the company’s plan to make Guyana’s telecommunications capacity “light speed.” It preceded an investment by the government to bring another cable from neighbouring Brazil.
According to GINA, the government also plans to string a fibre optic cable along the modern transmission main from Crabwood Creek in Region Six to Leonora in Region Three through partnership with Hauwei Technologies, China’s largest networking and telecommunications equipment supplier.
The ongoing effort to improve the country’s telecommunications infrastructure is in keeping with the overall goal of modernising Guyana’s economy to one where Information Communication Technology takes centre stage. The government expects that the sector will lead to the creation of tens of thousands of jobs and enormous development opportunities, including call centres, regional hosting opportunities, the provision of data for disaster recovery facilities, subscriber bandwidth services, telemedicine and distance learning, among others.
