Dear Editor,
We would appreciate the publication of this letter in response to a letter of complaint from Mr Javed Ishmael published in the letters column of your August 13, 2013 publication (‘No telephone or internet services at back of Britannia since July 24).
GT&T apologises to Mr Ishmael and other affected residents for the disruption of their telephone service which resulted from damage to our cables done by a third party contractor during excavation for the construction of a culvert in the Britannia area.
This disruption and its cause were ascertained following the initial July 25 reports from Mr Ishmael and other residents of the “western half of the back street.”
This information on the cause of disruption was communicated to Mr Ishmael on his subsequent call to Mr Linton, who is our Berbice area Supervisor. We regret the initial lapse. The repairs entail extensive civil works in addition to the actual cable repair. Initial work has commenced and the onsite work and eventual restoration of service would be completed by August 17, 2013.
The telephone and DSL accounts for Mr Ishmael and the other affected customers will be duly credited reflective of the period of disruption.
This particular issue of disruption of GT&T facilities as result of damage to our cable infrastructure particularly during excavations of civil works undertaken by third party contractors is a matter of grave concern to the company, as it severely hampers the quality of service to our customers.
We have repeatedly requested the authorities to advise contractors to contact the company before undertaking excavation or civil works that would likely be in the path of our cable infrastructure.
We use this opportunity to again request to contractors and citizens alike to call 0777 before undertaking excavation works or 0908 to report acts of vandalism.
Yours faithfully,
Allison Parker
Public Relations Officer
GT&T
