The Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GTT) has managed to extend the reach of its internet service via its fibre optic network to 70,000 customers in Georgetown and Region 3, up from 10,000 in 2012, and plans are in the pipeline to extend its network to Berbice, Parika, and Linden, according to Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Justin Nedd.
The CEO shared this information with media operatives yesterday morning during a press conference held to share some of the company’s positive and negative developments.
Nedd said the US$50 million the company has spent on improvements over the last 30 years has realised many improvements, including fibre optic cables. He further lauded GTT’s decision to lay three fibre optic cables, thereby creating triple redundancy, and allowing customers to remain connected even if one or two cables go down. He said that the utility of this “triple redundancy” has already been successfully tested recently after two of the cables went down without impact to customers.
Difficulties
GTT, however, continues to be negatively affected by various challenges despite its advancements.
Nedd said GTT continues to suffer a few cases of vandalism every week. He said that while he is unable to quote an exact figure, the cost to GTT amounts to tens of millions of dollars every year.
Nedd noted that in addition to the impact on the company, vandalism affects customers, and, in that context, urged person who witness acts of vandalism to the company’s infrastructure to report them to the police or the company.
He said that the GTT is hopeful that legislation will be promulgated which specifically criminalises this act, and prescribes harsh punishment.
Defaulters to be reported
Although the company collects fees efficiently enough to allow its operations to continue, Nedd said that in a few months GTT will begin sharing the payment habits of payment defaulters with the Guyana Credit Bureau. He emphasised that when this information is shared, it will invariably be passed to banks and other financial institutions upon request, and will likely impact interest rates for these customers, or whether they will be granted loans at all.
This measure, which seems to be a bid to encourage customers to be less delinquent regarding their payments, is likely to commence in a few months, Nedd said.
Improvement of billing and public education
Nedd is also encouraging customers to update their contact information with the company as GTT has moved toward reminding customers of payments due vial SMS, email, and phone calls.
Nedd, as he and other company representatives have done in the past, also admitted that there are unresolved issues regarding the billing component of the company’s operations, while promising that the company is working to resolve those issues.
On September 12th, GTT’s new billing format came in for heavy criticism during a Public Utilities Commission (PUC) hearing which was prompted by a complaint made by activist Ramon Gaskin. Gaskin had complained that, among other things, he wanted his physical, detailed bill, as opposed to the summary, electronic version GTT disseminates to those who sign up for that service. The company’s e-billing service, automatically discontinues the delivery of paper bills. Customers, however, can still obtain a physical, detailed bill by visiting one of GTT’s outlets, GTT has said.
The complaint highlighted the issues faced by those challenged by, and opposed to the offering of certain services via electronic platforms. Persons in these categories include some senior citizens.
In recognition of this, Nedd said that GTT is working to implement an initiative whereby senior citizens can, in addition to receiving their summary bill, visit a GTT outlet and request, free of charge, a detailed bill.
Nedd also said that GTT plans to roll out a public education project aimed at informing customers about various aspects of its operations that they should have knowledge on, including the fact that equipment in their homes may be responsible for their Wi-Fi going down occasionally.
Applications, kiosks, and appointment windows
Among GTT’s plans include rolling out applications and mechanisms to allow customers more control over their time. Nedd said that the company’s mobile money and GTT applications already facilitate this to some extent. Approximately 20% of customers are said to be currently using the company’s apps to transact business and Nedd says GTT is looking to increase this number over 50%. When the application was initially launched, 3% to 4% of GTT customers were using the service.
There are also plans to introduce kiosks in GTT outlets, and other places frequently accessed by people, and which can be accessed at flexible hours. Such locations include malls. Nedd says this will allow customers greater flexibility in managing their affairs.
Nedd also shared that the company will be moving to establish appointment windows, which will facilitate time-specific meetings when they are needed.
Video content
Nedd said that the company has received questions as to whether it plans on providing video content, but said that there are no immediate plans to do this, owing to a lack of intellectual property rights in Guyana, and the costs associated.
Meanwhile, he said that the company’s Blaze service enables customers to access video services on other platforms, including Netflix traffic for which he says has increased by 500% to 600%.
