Over the last year, the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GTT) has recorded an over 400% increase in internet traffic, which the company’s Chief Executive Officer Justin Nedd said is credited to progress in the deployment of its fibre optic cable network in that time.
At a press conference that was held at the company’s store on Brickdam, Nedd said that while GTT had a challenging year, it was equally productive.
He explained that the company has realised that the internet is the largest driver of productivity and learning in Guyana and within the last 12 months it had been building its fibre optic cable network at a frenetic pace.
As a result, within the year, he said, “tens of thousands” of people have connected to the fibre optic network, which is starkly different from the same period last year when the “number was in the single digit thousands.”
“From January 2018 to January 2019, because of that success, we have seen more than a 400% increase in internet traffic, largely attributed to the deployment of the high speed fibre optic network. This is a good thing and I want to emphasise that we certainly have the capacity and skillset to facilitate this,” Nedd said, while noting that there is a high demand for faster connections and the company is actively prioritising areas for development since “fibre is the foundation for modern communications.”
Nedd also said that GTT has recorded an overwhelming demand for its Blaze internet service, which has resulted in longer than usual wait times. However, right now, there are more than 60,000 households and businesses that are capable of accessing the service, with over 100 being installed every day.
He further explained that in 2018 alone, GTT recorded a compounded monthly growth rate in the traffic by more than 10% per month and over 300% year over year. A large part of the increase in internet traffic was attributed to the increase in usage of video streaming services, such as YouTube and Netflix.
He added that over the last four years the number of connected users has also increased by a compounded annual figure of 15%, which he said shows that there is more demand and more connections.
“I want to say that we have a resilient network of fibre optic cable systems that supply our country with the internet. When we look back, last year we had some major cuts outside of Guyana to a part of our cable system but we are still working without any big impact. One cut lasted more than 12 months but you weren’t without internet for 12 months and that’s simply because we have a redundant network and the capacity,” he added.
Nedd also touched on GTT’s landline service and pointed out that as of February 22nd more than 99% of the service was in “good working order” and less than 0.5% of the total network faults were reported for more than three days.
However, when questioned about the plans to expand the landline services to unserved areas, how many landlines would be installed within the last year and how many they plan on installing this year, Nedd could not give a direct answer. He stated that they are rolling out more 350 per quarter, which the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) had ordered.
“We continue to deploy communications that are demanded by the people. When I focused on the internet, everybody here that has Blaze knows it comes with the dial tone and going back to the PUC order, we have certainly handsomely beat what was required by the PUC to deliver voice communication services to the people of Guyana and we continue to do that,” Nedd said, while stating that while it might come as a surprise, “people are actually giving up their landline service.”
Nedd was also questioned on the liberalisation of the telecommunications sector and he said the company is still in talks with the government, which are “progressing” and it is still committed to moving forward.
The company will also be partnering with a third party company to provide video streaming, which he said should be rolled out within the next few months.
