–says resultant damage very costly

THE Guyana Telephone & Telegraph Company Limited (GT&T) has issued a press release appealing to contractors and other persons involved in the execution of civil works to first contact the telecommunications provider before undertaking excavation works, please.The telecommunications provider says it is encountering great inconvenience and tremendous expense from repeatedly disrupted telephony and data services across the country, “sometimes inadvertently, sometimes because they refuse to call before they commence excavations”.

GT&T contends that consequential damage to its network infrastructure, “especially our buried cables, is disruptive to our business, costs millions to restore, inconveniences our customers, undermines revenue generation, and can potentially compromise national security”.

The release divulges that, over recent months, several of that service provider’s business customers who rely on its data service to transmit and receive “mission critical” data and information have been severely affected by service disruptions consequent upon excavation works by contractors and others, “who failed to ask us whether buried cable was in the vicinity of the excavation site. These businesses included Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry, Republic Bank, Courts (Guyana) Ltd., Guyana Police Force, Demerara Distillers Limited, Guyana/Trinidad Mutual, and the Diamond Diagnostic Centre, to name a few”.

The road construction works on the East Bank of Demerara have allegedly occasioned repeated cable cuts, and according to the GT&T, those cost “in excess of ten times since 2011, (are) of tremendous concern to GT&T, and inconvenience the company’s customers and the country at large”.

The GT&T release says the most recent cable damage was done yesterday by B.K. International Inc. 13.5 km from Georgetown, just outside DDL Compound on the East Bank of Demerara. “This resulted in disruption to GT&T and thousands of its customers in as far away as West Bank and West Coast of Demerara, East Bank Essequibo and the Essequibo Coast.

“Another fibre damage, also detected (yesterday) along the Soesdyke/Linden Highway, resulted in the disruption of telephone service to numerous communities in Linden as well as Ituni, Kwakwani, Mahdia and Mabura.”

The release said: “GT&T wishes to place on record the severe negative impacts that these cable damages continue to have on the company and its customers, including the diversion of our finite technical and material resources away from our planned expansion programme works and routine installation and maintenance activities.

“This situation is not tenable, especially since it is compounded by acts of apparent sabotage and wilful vandalism of the network.

“GT&T has an obligation to protect the integrity of the national communications infrastructure, but we need the cooperation and assistance of all Guyana if we are to succeed.”

In conclusion, the Company said: “We take this opportunity to again encourage public utilities workers, road contractors, and indeed all Guyana to call us on 0777 before commencing excavations which can encounter and damage our buried cable infrastructure.”