Dear Editor,
Please allow me the opportunity to respond to Mr Osogbo’s letter published in your June 5 edition and captioned ‘Has GT&T abandoned its customers in the Melanie/ Enterprise/ Bachelors Adventure area?’
GT&T appreciates this customer’s obvious loyalty and support and welcomes his letter which allows us to again remind all stakeholders of the cost and inconvenience occasioned by network vandalism and the collective security which must be adopted to protect ourselves against these mindless acts.
The disruption of service experienced by Mr Osogbo and numerous other customers was occasioned by the wanton destruction of the telephone network infrastructure. However, far from abandoning the affected customers, our Outside plant technicians have been working feverishly to restore service. Mr Osogbo’s service was restored on June 3, but our work on the damage is not complete so some customers are still without service.
GT&T continues to do everything in its power to reduce the incidence of network vandalism. However, to succeed we need the assistance of the regulatory agencies, the government and our customers on the ground in the communities.
For the year to date, GT&T has suffered at least 100 cases of network vandalism. Indeed, in many instances, as soon as the damaged network is repaired and service restored, the same portion of network is again vandalized.
As the table below shows, this has been our experience at Enterprise on the East Coast of Demerara.
To repeat what we said in our last public notice on vandalism, the current state of affairs is unacceptable and unsustainable. Insofar as network vandalism affects all of us, all of us must participate in combating the scourge. We are therefore appealing to individuals and institutions to partner with us in the protection of the national telecommunications network. Observe what is happening in your community; call us on 0908 to report suspicious activities directed at the network; in short, act as our eyes and ears. The network facilities that serve your home or business may be targeted next, so it cannot be wise to see something and not say anything. It cannot be sufficient to simply press the company to expedite repairs and service restoration after the fact.
Be assured that any information you share with us will be treated with the strictest confidence and that GT&T will offer a meaningful reward to anyone who provides information that leads to the apprehension of vandals and their prosecution.
Let’s stop network vandalism together!
Yours faithfully,
Allison Parker
PRO