THE much anticipated overland fibre optic cable, which will link Guyana and Brazil, has been landed at Lethem, following the completion of installation on the Brazilian side.

Local companies will begin work next week on installing along a 300-odd kilometres route from Lethem to Linden.
An official said, weather permitting, that major feature of the project, to establish broadband connectivity between the two countries and the intervening hinterland areas, will be completed within two months.
Another aspect, installing the terminal equipment at repeater sites, will be done by the Chinese company, Huawei Technologies, which is currently in the process of acquiring the necessary requirements and service should be available by the second quarter of 2011, the official explained.
The connecting with Guyana Telephone & Telegraph (GT&T) cable, to take the broadband connectivity to Corentyne, Berbice, will begin shortly after the completion of the first phase, he said.
President Bharrat Jagdeo had, last January, announced the introduction of fibre optic cable from neighbouring Brazil and anticipated its arrival in Georgetown by the second quarter of this year.
He had said the undertaking, together with other Government Information Communications Technology (ICT) programmes, would facilitate connectivity of areas along the route to utilise secure stable and high output telecommunication technology.

Bilateral relations
During the just concluded summit of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR), President Lula Da Silva of Brazil referred to it as another example of the growing trend in favourable bilateral relations with Guyana.
The Brazil/Guyana fibre optic cable, with high bandwidth, will be dedicated to E-Governance, a term that refers to any government functions or process executed in digital form on the Internet.
All social institutions, including schools, hospitals and Police stations, will be connected, as well as many others which, presently, do not have Internet access or cannot afford it.
With access to it, both private citizens and businesses can find public information, download Government forms, contact its representatives and access services such as pensions, passports and birth certificates electronically.
The Brazilian side of the cable was installed by Globenet, a subsidiary of Oi, Brazil’s largest telecoms operator and the biggest wireline telephone company in South America, in terms of total service lines.
The landing station for the cable from Brazil is at Lethem and the connection from there to Linden will be done by local civil engineering firms, MMC, Dax Contracting and Dynamic Engineering, burying lengths along the route and using Guyana Power & Light (GPL) poles where available.