GT&T launches US$30M fibre optic cable today

Jul 29, 2010 News

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By Leonard Gildarie
The Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company Limited (GT&T) is all set today to officially launch its E-magine services in a glitzy affair at the Guyana International Convention Centre (ICC), Liliendaal, with delegations from Suriname, Trinidad and President Bharrat Jagdeo expected to attend.
Following the installation of its US$30M fiber optic cable, GT&T on July 1, last, started to upgrade customers in the city with its much-touted high-speed internet and today and several of the other features are expected to be announced today.
Today’s event had been planned for the GT&Ts Earth Station, Carifesta Avenue, but has been shifted to the Convention Center because of the prevailing weather, officials said yesterday.
Yesterday, the company’s Chief Financial Officer, Yog Mahadeo, who is expected to take the reins of GT&T from outgoing Chief Executive Officer, Major General (ret’d), Joe Singh, at the end of this month, disclosed that so far the cable has surpassed expectations with all “benchmarks” met.
Sitting in for the interview with Mahadeo was GT&T’s Director, Marketing and Sales, Wystan Robertson.
Among one of the features expected to be announced today is the partnership between GT&T and Starr Computers for a “cheap” computer package. Also to be announced is a strategic alliance with online education giant, BrainStreet.
BrainStreet is a powerful, self paced online education environment that harnesses the power of the Internet to enhance the learning experience. It is specifically designed to provide timely online support to students in accordance with their learning abilities and fundamentals, its website say.
It is a powerful flexible learning tool that provides instructors, students and administrators with a unique combination of state-of-the -art web technology and extensive education content.
This “Virtual Learning Environment” allows students to access academic coursework to support their efforts as they prepare for examinations such as the Caribbean Secondary Examination Council (CSEC) and the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE).
A deal to bring cheap devices like a planned US$35 device that has been announced in India recently has not been ruled out by GT&T and the officials yesterday said that they are keeping an eye on international developments with the hope that strategic alliances are struck.
Also expected at the launching is General Manager of the Telecommunications Company Suriname (Telesur), Dirk Currie.
According to the officials, while there were a few glitches in the implementation of the improved bandwidth, these were largely ironed out and technicians have been sent out to investigate complaints that are coming in.
In most of the cases of the complaints, the conditions of phone lines and technical issues of the DSL boxes being too far away from the computer were found to be among the main problems.
Almost 8,000 customers, including around 1,000 new ones, are already upgraded, Mahadeo said.
Already, the officials said the effects of the new cable are being felt in the internet world of Guyana with no downtimes recorded.
Explaining, Mahadeo disclosed that the old Americas II cable, which was in use before the new one was installed, has been down 12 times for the month already, but customers would not have noticed the disruptions.
Already, GT&T is looking to forget about the old cable system and is exploring ways to improve it as a backup.
The private sector is latching on to the possibilities with the Wireless Connections already on board to bring in computers and other packaged items to meet the expected demands. Gizmos and Gadgets is also working on partnerships with MDT on board.
Several customers have also upgraded going for the higher speeds and in the banking sector, like GBTI, have already struck deals to buy bandwidth.
According to Mahadeo, GT&T is fully cognizant of the fact that partnerships are the way to go and the company’s marketing team is focused in this direction.
He noted that the company is fully aware and have taken up the challenge of President Jagdeo to change the improve technology route.
Government has long been tagging the lack of bandwidth in Guyana as a major factor impeding development. The view was that an estimated 10,000 jobs could be created if more is available.
Government is moving to also bring a fiber optic cable from Brazil to create what it called “e-governance”.
In May, GT&T said that the multi-billion-dollar fibre optic cable would make internet connection in Guyana, among the fastest in the region.
Not only will current internet speed be increased fourfold, a whole slew of additional features, including high speed internet, home monitoring, mobile monitoring and gaming, will now be possible.
Banks, companies with branches and other similar organizations will all benefit from the low cost of bandwidth.
While, GT&T had plugged US$30M to bring the cable, additional features to fully optimize the potential of the cable will see another US$20M-US$30M being added.
The deal to bring the cable to Guyana from Trinidad, through Suriname, was signed in December 2008.
GT&T had announced that it has moved into a “partnership mode” with several businesses in which the company will ensure internet connections and then work with businesses to provide computers and other equipment.

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