GTT under pressure to prove data capacity …assures of handling overseas traffic

…says Guyana losing US$30M due to Digicel’s trans-border link

TELECOMMUNICATIONS company GTT has assured government that it has the capacity to handle the volume of data and international voice services being demanded by Guyanese.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, GTT said that it operates a reliable international service that contributes to the economy, employs over 600 Guyana workers and has the capacity to handle all of the country’s overseas traffic.

In March, the Ministry of Public Telecommunication had said that GTT must provide the evidence that it has the network capacity to meet the needs of the market before a decision is taken to discontinue Digicel’s link to Suriname. The Ministry’s statement came amid calls by GTT for an investigation to be conducted into Digicel’s alleged “illegal, unlicensed trans-border link between Guyana and Suriname”.

In response to the Ministry on Wednesday, GTT said that it is a legally licensed operation and provides transparency to citizens; its system is built to handle more than 70Gbps capacity – exceeding the capacity needed to handle all international traffic by more than 50%; it is currently operating well below capacity.

According to GTT, it has redundant paths to Internet via subsea fibre optics and the company has paid over US$45 million U.S in taxes over the last 5 years. Meanwhile, GTT also alleged that Digicel (Guyana) has been engaged in practices which has resulted in Guyana losing over US$30M in taxes.

“The people of Guyana also deserve to know whether, and how much, Digicel’s bypass operation has cost our country in lost tax payments. The damage to Guyana could be $30 million U.S. or more” GTT said in the statement.

Additionally, the telecommunications provider indicated that Digicel was bypassing the local network and using a Surinamese network for the provision of its data service. Digicel had signed an interconnection agreement with GTT. The company alleged that Digicel has kept this operation secret from the public, the business community and the media for years.

“Now that the illegal bypass service has been acknowledged by Digicel and confirmed by the government, the public deserves full transparency and action by our leaders. We therefore, again call for Digicel’s bypass operation to be audited by an independent and trusted organisation,” GTT said.

“The damage to Guyana could be $30 million US or more” the company said, adding that “the public needs to know if Digicel has in fact robbed our country of badly needed revenues by failing in its obligation to pay such a large sum.”

The telecommunication company also weighed in on liberalisation of the telecommunication sector, offering that this “could be very positive for Guyana,” only if laws are enforced and the public has transparency.
The Ministry of Public Telecommunication had said that it was actively engaging both GTT and Digicel in discussions on GTT’s claims of unlicensed transmission of voice and data traffic by Digicel across the Guyana-Suriname border.

It said that the matter has proven to be a complex one, exacerbated by demands of the market for adequate voice and data services. “Among the issues to be considered are whether GTT has sufficient data capacity to meet the needs of the market and the degree of congestion of its network,” the Ministry headed by Minister Cathy Hughes had noted last month.

The Ministry, however, said its current position should not be misconstrued to mean that it is willing to condone illegal activities.
“The Ministry wishes to emphasise that this does not mean that the Government is in any way eager to condone this activity, but in this age of such high dependence on telecommunications and the Internet for the conduct of business, learning and many activities of life, we must be satisfied that there is adequate communications available for the people,” the Ministry had stated.

It said that while Government is committed to ensuring that applicable licence terms and conditions are honoured, it must also ensure that the required obligations in the licence that provide for adequate service are met, as well as the needs of the people. The Public Telecommunications Ministry said it is well aware that increased investment and greater network capacity are needed to meet the demands of consumers.

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