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GTT complying with order for 350 new landlines every quarter – PUC
GTT is meeting its obligations to rollout at least 350 new landlines every quarter, PUC says.
The Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GTT) which was ordered last September to increase the number of new landlines, appears to be complying.
According to figures provided by the regulator, the Public Utilities Commission (PUC), GTT between August 2017 and April 2018, installed 1,445 new landlines.
The US-owned company has been under pressure to invest more to roll out landlines, a main conduit for DSL internet. Several communities are still without services, despite GTT being here more than two and half decades.
It was only recently that the company took its Blaze service to La Parfaite Harmonie, West Bank Demerara, one of the largest housing schemes in the country. That area has been struggling for internet, with many families depending on the mobile service as the primary source of internet.
A few families were lucky enough to afford wireless internet.
Responding to queries, PUC’s chairperson, Dela Britton, disclosed that based on the reports submitted by GTT, the company is indeed living up to its obligations.
Between August 2017 and October 2017, the company installed 184 urban lines and 224 sub-urban/rural ones – a total of 408 for the quarter.
Between November 2017 and January 2018, the company managed 220 urban and 308 sub-urban/rural ones – a total of 528.
Between February 2018 and April 2018, GTT was able to install 214 urban landlines and 295 sub-urban/rural ones – a total of 509.
In all, during the three quarters, the total number of new landlines were therefore 1,445.
It may be that GTT is including its introduction of the Blaze service – which includes fibre for internet, and at least one telephone number – among the above numbers.
According to the PUC chairperson, the Public Utilities Commission Order (4/2017) dated September 13, 2017 indicates that GTT is required to roll out no less than 350 lines per quarter effective August 1, 2017, as one of the conditions for granting of increased rates to the operator.
The company last year successfully applied for increases to the rates of its landlines.
The spotlight has been on GTT and its performance as Guyana moves slowly to liberalisation, allowing for new players to enter and compete on the mobile, internet and landline market.
From as far back in 2014, GTT had unsuccessfully applied for new rates. This was dismissed by PUC in 2015. In 2016, the company filed another application and was granted conditional approval, effective August 1, 2017.
The company had been asked by PUC to roll out at least 1,000 new landlines, but had appealed that condition.
As of last year, the number of applications for GTT landlines were over 16,000, with less than half in areas that had little or no telephone infrastructure.
GTT had also been asked to speed up its remedying of reported faults, with the company signalling that it has established a task force to address faults.
PUC had ordered that urban areas and towns have up to five days for faults to be fixed with
suburban and rural areas up to eight,
Areas of the hinterland have up to 20 working days.
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