The laying of the government funded fibre optic cable from Brazil has covered a significant degree of mileage as the cable is at present passing through the mining town of Linden, en route to the capital, Georgetown. President Bharrat Jagdeo visited the mining town yesterday to bring the exciting news to the residents, referring to the evident works ongoing on the Linden Highway.
“The Government of Guyana, through our own budget, not through a loan, not through a grant, we are funding a fibre optic cable… it’s not next year, it’s not six months down the line, it is happening now,” President Jagdeo said.
With the system permanently established, bandwidth will be cheaper and more reliable, thereby stimulating greater investments in the Information Communication Technology (ICT) sector.
The cable will be one of two in Guyana, entering the local shores two years after the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph (GT&T) invested US$30M in a cable linking Guyana, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago.
The cable laying process reached about 10 percent in February and is being executed in five lots: from Lethem to Annai, Annai to Kurupukari, Kurupukari to Mabura, Mabura to Wisroc Junction, and Linden to Providence.
The cable encouraged call centres such as Qualfon at Beterverwagting on the East Coast of Demerara to expand its operations to subsidiary locations and create employment opportunities for over 25,000.
President Jagdeo told Lindeners yesterday, “The call centres have all acquired lands and are constructing like crazy. In five years, I see us generating 25,000 jobs from that business alone.”
The Linden Call Centre established a few years ago to provide job opportunities, particularly for women in the town, had been stymied as a result of the poor and latent quality of the bandwidth.
With the coming of the fibre optic cable to Linden, the president spoke with optimism of changing circumstances.
“Immediately that changes the entire economics of operating call centres here, because you have easily trainable people up here and you have good quality telecommunication, because the fibre optic cable brings cheap bandwidth with good latency. So I see this as a huge possibility for this community,” President Jagdeo said.
Additionally, with the implementation of the One Laptop Per Family (OLPF) programme, the Linden Enterprise Network (LEN), formerly the Linden Economic Advancement Programme (LEAP), has been earmarked as a hub for training.
Yesterday, the Head of State met LEN Coordinator Valerie Adams Sharpe and other staff at the headquarters to discuss the prospects, and also enquired about departmental plans. (GINA)