City banks affected as GT&T hit by vandals

Apr 03, 2012 News

-12 attacks in recent weeks

The Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GT&T) has said that there

File photo: An attempted attack on one of GT&T’s properties months ago.

have been 12 attacks of vandalism within recent weeks.
“Telephone and other telecommunication services for thousands of customers including several businesses in and around the central Georgetown area have been repeatedly disrupted over the past weeks as a result of what seems to be organized rampant vandalism,” the company yesterday said.
“Our records indicate more than twelve attacks over the past weeks.”
Yesterday, there were even more reports of a 200 and 300-pair of distribution cables being vandalized in Independence and James Streets, Albouystown and in Meadow Brook/Durban Backlands respectively.
In the Sophia area, a 200-pair of cable was also vandalized, it was repaired over the weekend after being vandalized on Friday.
“Some of the other areas vandalized between February 22 and March 2 are Liliendaal, Church Street, Woolford Avenue, Kara Kara Linden, Sophia, Houston Public Road and South Road which was vandalized four times during this period. The repeated vandalism of the South Road Cable has affected commercial activities at Demerara Bank and Citizens Bank.”
GT&T urged communities across Guyana to be vigilant in looking out for the vandals and helping to protect equipment of the company so that “we can offer vital telephone services to our customers. There is so much more we can and want to do but we are prevented by wicked acts such as these.”
The telephone company said that in excess of US$2M was expended to effect repairs caused by vandalism during 2011 and had pushed back installation of 350 new lines, and repairs to over 300 faults.
“We want to assure our customers that the errant acts of vandals will not deter us from our commitment to providing our quality service to Guyana. We are cognizant of our strong customer base and we will continue to make every effort to ensure they have the best telephone services the country can offer.”