Hoping that local villages will be partners given that they are greatly underserved, new telecommunications provider Green Gibraltar is preparing to begin its product demonstrations throughout the hinterlands next month.
“We have a demo of what we can do to take telecommunications to another level, in terms of what it can do for the hinterlands. It is not a profitable area and it why most telecoms businesses don’t go there but we see so much potential for medical and agriculture aid. For us, it is what telecoms can do in the backdams, so to speak,” Green Gibraltar Director, Jai Narine Singh, told the Stabroek News from Scotland on Friday.
In a plan that it hopes government, village leaders, and other service providers would embrace, the company said that the project strategy is not an immediate revenue earner, but is aimed at bridging the communication divide as it simultaneously empowers persons in those regions, particularly with business and healthcare alternatives.
It hopes that other service providers will also chip in to assist communities which continue to be deprived of what it believes are the basic amenities available to their coastlander counterparts.
“We were granted a provisional licence back in February of this year and have since submitted our entire plan to government. We submitted some amendments, in terms of spectrum, microwave backhaul and so forth,” Singh updated.
“In the interim, and while we await [approval on] those things, we have been speaking to the other service providers, such as E-Networks to see how we can work together. It is a small space and we are looking at ways to help each other,” he added.
Singh explained that with internet connectivity and application software designed to help small rural farmers, the company’s strategy involves looking at ways to help those persons sell produce throughout the country.
“If there, for example, is a farmer and she can produce 200lbs of cassava every month and needs a market. This will help because she can put in a schedule of where it can be picked up and someone from anywhere, who can access it, can pay for it, go there and pick up that cassava and she never have to leave.”
“The farmers need to be connected and they need to be connected to suppliers and buyers…” he added.
It would also raise the level of support given to the current healthcare systems in the hinterlands in terms of expanding access, in a way that will minimise the challenges faced.
“We are going to be putting in the infrastructure and government have all these plans for development, [so] this can work in a big way. If the government gives approval and the village toshaos agree, we can rollout in trying to get the medical aid and agri programs.”
In relation to medical services, Singh noted that everyone can appreciate what remote patient monitoring and minimising the challenges and burdens such as transportation for hinterland patients can mean.
It is that support he says that Green Gibraltar hopes to focus on firstly, even as it expands its overall service.
When it had applied for its licence, Green Gibraltar said that wanted an individual licence to operate a public telecommunications network and offer a public mobile telecommunications service in regions Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven and Ten. Towards this end, it has also applied for frequency authorization to use spectrum and to install and operate radio communication equipment in the operating of the network and service.
The company had stated that in 2019, two companies, MHM Holdings GY Inc, and Green Gibraltar Inc, led by Guyanese entrepreneurs, resolved to improve the limited and poor-quality cellular service in the country.
“A formal application was submitted in January of 2021 in response to the Telecom Liberalization Act. After two years of hard work and sound investments, the companies have now assembled an industry-leading team of financial and technical partners. The granting of the license is the first step on the journey of realizing this vision. Green Gibraltar Inc., MHM Holdings GY, Inc., and their partners understand the desire of Guyana’s citizens and businesses to have an option to connect with the world in a professional and cost-effective manner.”
While he did not name the UK-headquartered MHM Holdings, Singh said that he had been meeting with persons in London and in discussions on how the service would help remote communities here. He said that he was “blown away” when he say demos of how telecommunications can help to bridge the divide between rural and urban life.
“We plan to have the demos towards the end of November. We want to show how far telecommunications can come for Guyana. It is being finalized and most of the equipment is in the country,” he said.
“…The liberalisation programme has been fantastic we have not met any walls or subterfuge and we think this will help with development… we just want to show what it can do,” Singh said.
