-Gouveia says his statement was not meant as a criticism
CHAIRMAN of the Private Sector Commission, Mr. Gerry Gouveia, with reference to “regrets” voiced by the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GT&T) said he is disappointed by the entity’s “acid response.”

“The statement that was made was in no way a criticism of GT&T’s operations but an observation,” Gouveia posited.

In a prior interview with the Guyana Chronicle the PSC Chairman said a first hand look at the 911 operations points directly to the fact that its inefficiency is not a result of human resources but of technicalities with which the communication company could assist.

Gouveia had said, “I think it is a technical problem and GT&T needs to work harder to resolve it.”

Since then the PSC Chairman reiterated that this statement was based on an observation made during a visit where the 911 system operations were viewed.

He said, “I was in the booth where the operators are and of the seven out of 10 calls that came in there was no one at the other end…I placed a call on my cell phone and you could hear the ringing on my phone but there was no ringing in the booth. This happened two to three out of four to five calls.”

To this end, the PSC Chairman said the observations made were quintessentially a plea for efforts to be upped by GT&T to address the issue since people’s lives depend on this service.

He reiterated the importance of an effective system noting that any inefficiency could prevent security officials from saving a life.

“GT&T has said that it has taken many actions and this is good but the fact is that there are problems and more needs to be done…It is an observation,” Gouveia posited.

However, the phone company issued a release saying it “Views with surprise and disgust the comments reportedly made by the Chairman of the Private Sector Commission, Mr. Gerry Gouveia in yesterday’s issue of the Guyana Chronicle in which he calls for the Company’s assistance in addressing the technical issues affecting the efficiency of the country’s 911 emergency service.”

The statement pointed out that the Company is extremely disappointed that the Chairman of the Private Sector Commission, of which GT&T is a member, did not demonstrate the courtesy or the decency to check with officials before publicly commenting on the situation.

“If he had done the appropriate thing, the facts would have been made available to him,” the release said adding that, “It would have been explained that GT&T fully appreciates the importance of the 911 service and has at all times deployed its engineers to, as a priority, maintain that service.”

The phone company’s statement made clear that a few years ago, concerns were raised about the non-functioning of the 911 system at certain locations and moves were made to address the same.

“GT&T and Guyana Police Force officials met, established the critical importance of the service, agreed that any fault in the system would be reported immediately to GT&T and GT&T will treat as urgent and give priority to the repairing of that fault,” the release said.

GT&T statement’s further explained that three years ago, in 2006, the Guyana Police Force engaged GT&T to discuss ways of improving the quality of its 911 service offered to the public.

“Extensive reviews were done, resulting in individual Police Divisions having upgraded 911 services terminating within those divisions. When a year later, the Guyana Police Force, through its Communication Officer, monitored the operational status of its 911 facilities and found them to be defective, GT&T responded immediately and took corrective action to improve the service. Recently, the administration of the Force approached GT&T seeking technical advice for the improvement of 911 facilities in its ‘A’ Division. Again GT&T responded positively by inspection, advice and technical support in identifying and sourcing upgraded facilities for the division. This recommendation has been accepted by the Police Administration and is being acted upon,” the release said.

Affirming that these are the facts, GT&T said this information would have been made available to Gouveia, had he taken the “Sensible and logical step to contact officials of the Company to establish some balance in his remarks.”

“It seems necessary that we point out to Mr. Gouveia, too that at GT&T’s initiative, there was the introduction two years ago of an Emergency Short Messaging Service. The E-SMS is designed for customers who might have a case of emergency and requires immediate assistance,” the statement said.

It also noted that the phone company is “Astonished that the Chairman of the Private Sector Commission can recognize the value of communication to national security and not be more visible and vocal when facilities of the same communication company are sabotaged and vandalized with great frequency placing entire communities at risk.”

The phone company further called for the PSC Chairman to use his influence to help reduce the criminal acts and to call for the greater protection by the disciplined services in the interest of safeguarding those facilities.

The company’s statement said, “It is a serious commitment by the Company that the 911 service should always be available.”