Cabinet Secretary Dr Roger Luncheon yesterday said that Digicel’s plan to lay its own submarine fibre optic cable here to develop its network has been known for some time and he dismissed claims that former President Bharrat Jagdeo may have been acting as government’s mouthpiece when he alluded to the administration possibly granting permission.
“For those of us in the sector, and the communications sector falls under the Office of the President, it has been known for some time—Digicel’s intention, Digicel’s rollout—
and I would want to believe that it was in that context that his remarks must be seen,” Cabinet Secretary Dr Roger Luncheon said when asked yesterday about Jagdeo’s pronouncement on policy decisions.
At the Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association dinner held last Friday at the Princess Hotel, Jagdeo listed the laying of Digicel’s cable as part of government’s plans to develop the sector here and signalled that approval might have already been given. “Now Digicel has applied to bring in another cable and I think the government has given them permission,” he had said.
The Donald Ramotar administration has not said anything on the possible cable for Digicel.
Luncheon yesterday opined that with Digicel publicly declaring that it has plans to develop the sector and that it wanted to land its cable here, there should be no surprise at Jagdeo’s assertions.
“I do believe that the interest that Digicel has brought out in the public, about landing cable here in Guyana, that interest and it has indeed not been a secret for those of us who are in the sector…. it has been known for some time,” he said.
“Of course, those remarks cannot be with any prejudice with a decision that is yet to be made by a current administration with regards to the Digicel roll out…much sympathy exists for enhancing the broadband capacity in Guyana,” he further stated.
When Jagdeo made the remarks he was at the time addressing criticisms of government’s lack of development of the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector. He said that ICT development formed part of a four-pronged strategy that the Donald Ramotar administration is working on as it pushes to develop a green economy. “For those who don’t think we have a plan, I have seen and stayed quiet and it’s hard to do so because I’ve seen the comments that we don’t have a vision for ICT,” he stated.
Luncheon said yesterday that with Guyana’s dismal development, especially in the telecommunications sector, any company that seeks to improve that sector here would garner interest by stakeholders and government. “Digicel, Migicel, Rigicel, Bigicel, whoever would come with credible proposals to put bandwidth, cable, satellite in Guyana. They certainly would be given much understanding and support for such an initiative by stakeholders and central government,” he said.
