Aimed at providing enhanced 21st century connectivity for customers across the country with increased data speeds, the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph (GTT) yesterday announced that an additional $2B will be invested towards the upgrade of its fibre-optic internet service.
The company Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Damian Blackburn made this disclosure during the launch of the company’s latest innovation, GTT Fibre which was held at the Pegasus Hotel.
GTT Fibre is a rebranding of the former Blaze service. Existing customers will have their internet service upgraded automatically.
The new plans of Fibre50, Fibre100 and Fibre150 provide more than double the speed of the previous Blaze plans at a lower cost.
It therefore means customers on the Ignite (10Mbps), Flaming (20 Mbps) and Inferno (50 Mbps) plans have been moved to the Fibre50, Fibre100 and Fibre150 plans priced at $8,999, $10,999, and $12,999 respectively.
Speaking at a press conference yesterday, Blackburn said the investment is part of GTT’s vision to improve the experiences of every home and business across the country.
Already, he said GTT had invested $17B in fibre technology to bring this 21st century vision alive.
Apart from upgrading the Fibre services, he said the additional $2B which was invested will also see GTT Fibre being rolled out in new areas.
“Our new GTT Fibre service has replaced Blaze and customers have been upgraded automatically to significantly higher data speeds….This sets the stage for future innovation to enable us to provide a 21st century experience to our customers, communities and our country as a whole. Just as this 21st century has seen major advancements in technology, it has also brought significant social and economic opportunities and challenges,” Blackburn said.
“Advances in information and technology, gives us the power to overcome many of those challenges. What truly excites me, is the national advancement opportunities that the power of GTT Fibre now presents for all of the Guyanese people,” he added.
Blackburn further noted that GTT has already recorded a number of improvements as it relates to its response.
He said the company is committed to further acknowledge when there is a need for improvement.
“I promise you our plan will fix all of the issues here in 2021 having navigated some very tricky global supply chain problems…I promise we will communicate better with you if your service is disrupted,” he said.
The GTT Fibre upgrade includes a voice line which provides crystal clear call quality; optional Wi-Fi; High-speed fibre internet with a free modem; VIP Tech Support and troubleshooting; Video streams and video conferencing and Static IPs to support networks, servers, and cameras.
Meanwhile, Chief Operations Officer for GTT’s Home and Fixed Service, Eshwar Thakurdin reminded that GTT is the first to have introduced fibre technology to Guyana.
As such, he said the company will continue to roll out the service across the country. By the end of this year, Thakurdin said another 10,000 homes are expected to have access to the Fibre service.
Thakurdin said presently 75,000 homes already have access. “Our aim is to have this service available to over 50 percent of homes in Guyana,” he said.
As the new service is being introduced, Thakurdin added that fibre optic cables are being rolled out and the submarine cable is being upgraded.
“The other thing that we have also had to do is to upgrade our subsea transmission links to the Internet so Guyana’s connectivity to the internet and to other countries… to make sure we’ve got enough bandwidth for the traffic,” he said.
Additionally, he noted that the business and DSL customers have not been forgotten as they too are expected to benefit.
Thakurdin said that BizFibre customers will benefit from new plans. “They are offered increased speeds at no additional cost…..The previous plans….have all been upgraded. This means that the speed (increased up) to 200 percent for small and medium size businesses and enterprises on BizFibre,” he said.
DSL customers would also get higher data speeds. “Most DSL customers will receive a free speed upgrade to their area. Where these upgrades to the basic DSL service may not technically be possible, their monthly cost for this service will be reduced,” Thakurdin noted.
