THE recent increase in access to the information super-highway made possible through the Suriname Guyana Submarine Cable System (SG-SCS) came in for high praise by President Bharrat Jagdeo and his Surinamese counterpart  Desi Bouterse. Following  discussion between the two leaders during President Bouteres’s official state  visit to Guyana, the two Heads of State underscored the importance of an efficient information communication sector and expressed great satisfaction at the cooperation between the telecommunications entities in Guyana and Suriname.
They noted that such investments and cooperation are critical to national development and pledged to lend their full support to similar future initiatives.
The SG-SCS which makes use of the high-speed fibre optic cable was launched in July, six months after shore-end landing works.
The 1,240 kilometre cable connects Guyana and Suriname to Trinidad and Tobago and hence to the rest of the world. It has a capacity of 1,000 times the current bandwidth and is part of the telephone company’s plan to make Guyana’s telecommunications capacity “light speed”.
Following negotiations with Atlantic Tele Network (ATN), the Caribbean Association of National Communications Organisation (CANTO) and the Telecommunications Company of Suriname (TELESUR), cable laying began on the Northern Coast of Trinidad and Tobago, and proceeded in a south easterly direction over a distance of 654 kilometres to a branching unit in the Atlantic Ocean.
The cable system replaces the Americas II link which had been experiencing frequent disruptions that came at a high cost to business and customers in Guyana.
President Jagdeo had commended the initiative as one that will make a significant difference in the lives of Guyanese especially at a time when the technological gap between the developed and developing world is huge.
Government is working on introducing a second cable from neighbouring Brazil and is partnering with Hauwei Technologies, China’s largest networking and telecommunications equipment supplier, to string a fibre optic cable parallel to the stringing of modern transmission main from Crabwood Creek in Region Six to Leonora in Region Three.
The President’s vision for the development of the country’s ICT includes call centres, regional hosting opportunities, the provision of data for disaster recovery facilities, subscriber bandwidth services, telemedicine and distance learning and the provision of laptops to about 90,000 households.