GT&T CEO meets with DSL customers

Apr 11, 2011 News

A delegation of 15 persons met on Friday with the CEO of GT&T Yog Mahadeo to discuss the status of the new ‘E-magine Broadband’ service in the communities which they represent. The team, which comprised of mostly individuals residing on the West Coast of Demerara, was headed by Colin Woolford. Woolford also used the opportunity to ask about the service on behalf of residents of Linden and Berbice.

Members of the delegation from West Demerara meeting with GT&T CEO Yog Mahadeo on Friday about the E-magine Broadband service.

A possibility of reducing the 256K DSL rates for these customers was also discussed, since Emagine users are paying less for the same bandwidth being given to Berbice and WCD customers. GT&T’s E-magine Broadband came on stream in July, 2010, and several promises by the telephone company about the services being rolled out to Berbice and other far- flung areas in Guyana were made.
However, to date, the services have only rolled out to the East Coast Demerara and to some point on the East Bank of Demerara.
According to Woolford, Friday’s meeting saw the discussion of several matters, including a possible reduction of DSL rates for customers in Berbice, Linden and WCD. He added that the residents of WCD were supposed to have the E-magine service by March 2011, but to date it has not reached there.
According to Woolford, one of the revelations of Friday’s meeting with Mahadeo was that Berbicians and persons on WCD, as well as Linden, may not see the E-magine service until sometime in late 2012. This is due to the financial constraints of GT&T, coupled with the fact that the government is rolling out its own fiber optic cable across the country.
“E-magine has been a huge disappointment from the inception. All Guyanese were led to believe that this service would be available country wide at the launching.
In this era of advanced technology and modern business planning, one would have expected GT&T to embark on a simultaneous method of laying the fiber optic cable and preparing the entire network of this country. For some strange reason this was not the preferred method”, Woolford stated.
At the meeting, Mahadeo related to the delegation that GT&T is not sure of the government’s plan with the new cable and hence, the telephone company is not sure how to invest further into the E-magine expansion project to other areas in the country.
Thus, expansion to Berbice and WCD has been put on hold. The CEO mentioned that Linden would be the first heavily populated centre in Guyana that will see the government’s new cable first and thus, the company is very hesitant to expand its E-magine service to that area, foreseeing a possible loss in revenue if they do.
Woolford has expressed frustration about the DSL rates and E-magine service in the press a few times and then he gathered a team comprising of technicians, corporate managers and
ordinary persons to meet with Mahadeo to discuss a way forward.
Mahadeo said that the lowest GT&T could possibly reduce the current standard DSL rates for customers in the ‘non- E-magine’ areas, like Berbice, Linden and West Demerara, is $7,000 per month, from the normal price of $9,980.
Mahadeo promised to bring that to the GT&T Board for consideration. He hopes, too, to have the full support of the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) on the matter and will report to Woolford and his team about a possible development, in one month’s time.
“To date, three quarter of this country is still stuck with the old crawling 256kb-DSL for the price of $9,980.00. The people of Georgetown/ East Coast are enjoying one megabyte for the same price.
This is exploitation, discrimination and injustice perpetrated on three quarter of internet users of this country. I am asking the PUC and all other organizations vested with responsibilities to protect consumers in this country to represent us now”, Woolford said. (Leon Suseran)

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