Dear Editor,
Having raised some pertinent questions with regard to CCTV, frequency assignments and transparency in recent months, I am moved once again to raise questions on the issue of telecommunications policy.
Let me make it clear it is not my intent to tarnish anyone or to limit economic growth in this country by these questions, but to raise awareness of the importance of the telecommunications sector to progress and development.
The arrangement that the Ministry of Education (NCERD/The Learning Channel) has with the private entity TVG (owned by Dr Ranjisinghi Ramroop) for satellite uplink and downlink services has been described as “saving the day” for the Learning Channel. There may be those who will question my credentials with regard to telecommunications policy; it is not my wont to trot out degrees, training sessions and conferences attended to illustrate knowledge, but I do believe that I know something about these matters.
In the 1980s in a paper I suggested that satellites can be used to distribute educational programming to remote areas in Guyana and the Caribbean. I referred to the project as ‘Communication for Educational Development and Enlightenment’ (CEDE) based on models I saw being used among the Inuit populations in Alaska and what I researched about the ‘ANIK’ satellite system in Canada and the Indian Satellite Instructional Television Experiment (SITE) project in the 1970s and ’80s. In fact while not just for education, Caricom had a project on Satellite Space Segment Use that never really got off the ground. So it was never a hare-brained idea. The US used satellites in its rural educational services; Britain had its Open University, a combination of terrestrial and satellite use. Dr Roath ought to be complimented on the initiative, however it does not hurt the programme by questioning the procedure used to arrive at and procure certain services.
What is not clear is how the administrators of this beneficial service could state publicly that GTT and Digicel are assisting them on the one hand but GTT in particular on the other hand could not offer a quotation on providing “bundled “space segment service to the Learning Channel. Are we saying that GTT does not have satellite uplink facilities in the country; are we saying that GTT is not licensed to uplink and downlink voice and data? If The Learning Channel received quotations from GTT or Digicel were the costs too high for the bandwidth required or was the bandwidth not attainable by either telecommunication provider?
It would be presumptuous of me to state that TVG designed and procured a satellite uplink and downlink facility in the country because it knew that for its own purposes it would be given frequencies across Guyana and would need to distribute audio and video to various remote sites then, now or in the future. It may be presumptuous to state too that TVG knew beforehand that a Learning Channel was being planned in the head of the qualified, patriotic, and passionate Dr Seeta Shah Roath. Dr Roath when she served as Communications Manager at Omai and even before that in the Guyana Public Communications Agency knew of the difficulty associated with information distribution in the hinterland areas. She knew too that a GTT telecommunications tower at Arisaru via microwave facilitated interior service and still does to areas like Omai and Mahdia.
It is not quite accurate to indicate that satellite uplink and downlink facilities were not possible. At a price anything is available. Al Jazeera did an uplink from the Kitty foreshore within the last two years; Fox did a report from Parliament Building compound; Guyana has done the Cricket World Cup; and the Caribbean Broadcasting Union provided at least one of its local affiliates with the facilities to uplink. I would not venture into the claim by the Ministry of Education officials that “in fact, except for CANA, there was no other entity capable of uplinking video signals to satellites in the whole of the Caribbean,” but I know that such a statement will upset some of my colleagues in the CTU and CANTO. Suffice it to say that Caribvision was done via satellite from Jamaica, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Curaçao, and St Lucia using a combination of private-public entities.
I recall too that an entity named I-Net Communications Inc was fully authorized to provide telecommunications services in Guyana about ten years ago. The Guyana Government licensed I-Net to operate microwave data telecommunication equipment in the 2.4 Ghz band to provide data communication service within Guyana only. I know because back then I questioned that too and was provided with the documents. I-Net wanted to provide uplink and downlink facilities but those responsible for that service are still around and can speak for themselves whether I-Net got that licence.
The question with regard to the TVG/TLC arrangement is how was TVG licensed by the National Frequency Management Unit (NFMU), when, and for what other purpose than TLC services? Clearly for TVG there are other services using the satellite uplink/downlink operation. In addition to the possibility of future distribution of audio video in remote locations, TVG can offer call centre services perhaps or whenever international news networks come to Guyana the Guyana Government may require them to use that service.
Yours faithfully,
Enrico Woolford
