PUBLIC Telecommunications Minister Cathy Hughes is on her way to China, leading a team for talks with the principals of Huawei Technologies Ltd., the entity that constructed the US$32M E-Government network in coastal Guyana.A release from the Ministry of Public Telecommunications noted that Floyd Levi, Head of the E-Government Unit, is accompanying the delegation, which will also participate in a three-day global integrated conference in Shanghai.

It was noted that “Huawei Connect 2016” is designed to shape the digital transformation of industries, among other things.

Minister Hughes and her team will meet with Huawei’s principals at their Shenzhen headquarters and at their factories and installations in Beijing and Shanghai. The main objectives are to secure the long-term viability of Guyana’s telecommunication networks, and to acquire technical assistance and training capacity. The latter is to push forward the GoG’s plan to expand the ICT networks into all unserved areas, including Bartica, Linden, Kwakwani, Port Kaituma, Mabaruma, Annai and Lethem.

According to Levi, the unavailability of the severely damaged fibre optic cable is the reason for the expansion initiative. According to the release, this cable was supposed to have been laid subterraneously along the Linden to Lethem corridor, and it should have had the capacity to provide Internet services to all hinterland communities in most administrative regions. The newly crafted ICT expansion programme is the best alternative.

“In the meantime, with the creation of competent technical skills being so integral to the entire national programme, Huawei will be asked to provide in-country training of more than fifty (50) ICT engineers in the immediate future. Only four (4) ICT engineers had received adequate training under the previous administration,” the release noted.

The existing network consists of a fibre optic system in Georgetown, and a 4G LTE (Long Term Evolution) network that extends from Skeldon in Berbice to Charity on the Essequibo Coast.
This is the system that is currently being utilized to provide Internet access to schools and government’s agencies on the coastal plain.

“It is a work in progress, and the inter-connectivity programme is progressing well. The ultimate objective is to have every single public entity connected to the national network”, the release detailed.

Huawei is a Chinese multinational networking and telecommunications equipment and services company headquartered in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, China. It is reputed to be the largest telecommunications equipment manufacturer in the world, having overtaken Ericsson in 2012; and it was this company that constructed the national ICT networks in Trinidad and Tobago, the Dominican Republic, Suriname, and Panama.