-optimistic about growth in operations with telecoms expansion
IMPROVEMENTS in the local telecommunications arena have given commercial call centres like Qualfon the confidence to expand operations and strengthen partnership with relevant stakeholders in the sector. Thursday, Qualfon’s Chief Operations Manager, Alejandra Romero, met President Bharrat Jagdeo at State House to update him on the company’s future priorities for its growth and expansion. Minister of Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh, was also part of the meeting.
Romero told the Government Information Agency (GINA) that the company maintains a close relationship with the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph (GT&T) company on a playing field similar to the partnership other Qualfon centres around the world have with their Internet Service Providers (ISPs).
“We are very positive that with the opening of the telecommunications sector and with GT&T working with international standards… we can grow in Guyana,” Romero said.
The company has already made headway in its plans to establish a subsidiary in anticipation of large scale clientele and plans to triple the size of its staff complement.
The investment by GT&T in a 1,240 kilometre submarine fibre optic cable system and the government-funded fibre optic cable from Brazil have been facilitating the growth in the telecommunications and Information Communication Technology (ICT).
The laying of the fibre optic cable is at present underway in the vicinity of the Linden highway, 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 on the East Bank of Demerara.
The cable is known to improve the reliability of bandwidth capacity and in the past, its absence had resulted in a high level of delays in the communication process.
While in Linden, President Jagdeo told residents to look forward to a revival of the once dormant call centre in the town and the spin-off benefits that will become evident.
Access to high-quality Information Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure is described as the corner-stone of Guyana’s revolutionary Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS).       
The revised LCDS document states that such services will catalyse private sector investment, facilitate Guyana’s rapidly-growing business sector, double the number of people employed by 2013, and provide the necessary infrastructure to connect remote communities to government and other essential services. (GINA)