President Jagdeo promises liberalised telecommunications for all Guyana
PRESIDENT Bharrat Jagdeo has congratulated Digicel Guyana for reaching out to under-served communities.
He offered the congratulations Tuesday, at the commissioning of the Digicel solar cellular network at Matthew’s Ridge, in the Matarkai triangle of North West District, in Region One (Barima/Waini).
The Head of State was on a visit in the community and addressed issues of developmental concerns with residents at Matthew’s Ridge Primary School, following a tour of the school.
Mr. Jagdeo noted that, when Digicel was given the licence to operate in Guyana, it was in an environment where Guyana Telephone & Telegraph Company Limited (GT&T) had a monopoly for international calls, through an agreement that gave it, alone, a very, very long period of almost 40 years service.
He said his Administration was upset that such a deal was signed. Nevertheless it has been pressing the company and is working towards a liberalised environment, in the hope that, in the future, Digicel will not be confined to only bring in services at the domestic level but voice as well as data services and have the ability to take international services to the far-fetched communities.
President Jagdeo assured: “These communities will be directly connected through that company. We are working towards liberalising the environment. Even now, negotiations are ongoing as it concerns Matthew’s Ridge and the surrounding communities”.
He said he was very surprised that, given the old GT&T infrastructure there, the telephone company did not see it fit to extend its service there, leaving the community stranded.
President Jagdeo said, today in Guyana, there are  over 600,000 cell phones in a population of 750,000 people and, when more and more people are trying to access the Internet and get more information from it, not just for the purpose of entertainment but also for educational purposes, then there should be good services to all the communities.
The President said: “This afternoon (Tuesday), when I go to the next meeting that I have with the community, I will tell you about the plans to bring rural Guyana and hinterland Guyana into the digital age, in which these communities will be interconnected to a wonderful project that we are starting at a national level, which would see, first of all, within a matter of months, a television channel and an educational channel reaching into many communities including, Matthew’s Ridge”.
He announced that schools in the community will have several television sets delivering 24 hours a day Mathematics, English, Science and Social Studies programmes and it is hoped that, in future, television and health services will come through the Internet.
President Jagdeo disclosed that Digicel has already provided the voice and data that will allow it to improve the communications link between that area and the centre.
“So, if there is a problem, they can get on, immediately, to Georgetown in health and education related matters and also, if the community has any business it wants to conduct with the rest of the country, it can do so without physically having to leave this location,” he explained.

BIG BOOST

President Jagdeo continued: “This gives a big boost to productivity in this area and we just have to be grateful to Digicel for taking the decision in expand out here. This is part of our plan to give coverage to all our people.”
He said he wants all the service providers to be innovative and take Guyana to higher levels of technology.
According to him, Georgetown already has a 4G network which is now being deployed in some developed countries in North America and other parts of the world.
“We hope that, ultimately, that kind of cutting edge technology will be available to all of our people, in spite of cost considerations. We just have to get the price down, so that the technology will be available,” he said.
Digicel Head of Sales and Distribution, Ms. Nalini Veira said this follows months of work and planning and the company is striving to become the catalyst for the improvement of technology services locally.
She said, with the start of Digicel solar cellular service, there will be zero carbon emission and the utility now covers 95 per cent of the population, having launched it in several remote hinterland communities.
Public Relations Manager, Ms. Shonnett Moore said, since the inauguration of the service, the feedback from customers in Matthew’s Ridge has been good.
Head of Customer Care, Mr. Sherwyn Osborne donated four desktop computers to the Matthew’s Ridge Primary School and the gifts were accepted by the headmistress, Ms. Shondell Worrell.
Before Digicel introduce cellular service to Matthew’s Ridge, a resident, Mr. Dexter Badri said he had to hire a motor vehicle and pay as much as $7,000 to go uphill, 12 miles from the village, to pick up the signal from the nearby Digicel Port Kaituma cellular tower.
Digicel also took the opportunity, on Tuesday, to open its new store in Matthew’s Ridge where promotions are available to residents, who were treated to tokens, including umbrellas, pens and bags, after the ribbon cutting ceremony.