HISTORY was created when Guyana Telephone & Telegraph Company (GT&T), as previously promised, launched its cellular service, from Aranaputa Valley in the South Rupununi, last Saturday.

For the first time, residents of North Rupununi will be able to communicate with others in and around a five-mile radius and more places where cellular and landline networks are available.
Present at the simple but significant ceremony were Major General (ret’d) and former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of GT&T Mr. Joe Singh; present CEO, Mr. R. K. Sharma; Chief Financial Officer, Mr. Justin Nedd; Director of Data Services, Mr. John Persaud; Director of Mobile Money, Mr. Ishwar Thakurdin and  Public Relation Officers Nadia De Abreu and Allison Parker.
Chairman of Region 9 (Upper Takutu/Upper Essequibo), Mr. Wilson Lorentino; Toshao of Annai, Mr. Mark George; Chairman of the North Rupununi District Development Board (NRDDB), Mr. Michael Williams and Regional Officials were also there, as the Surama Cultural Group rendered two performances for the benefit of some 2,000 people in attendance.
Sharma told the gathering how delighted he was to see the response of so many Amerindians witnessing another historic event for his company.
He said: “Today is a historic and special day for this community and the bond that will be forged forever between GT&T and the residents here.
“As we launch the introduction of mobile cellular service, we cannot but reflect on the transformative effect of this service on the lives of this community.

POVERTY ALLEVIATION
“Rural services are at the heart of successful agricultural and rural development and essential to economic growth and poverty alleviation.
“Efficient and effective services are required to overcome high unit transaction costs and to access capital, markets and technical inputs,” he acknowledged.
Set against this backdrop of rural transformation, it is hoped that the advent of the mobile phone will stimulate a revolution in rural connectivity for small farmers and other small scale producers, Sharma said.
He continued: “We have seen, in other economies, where expanded rural connectivity and, in particular, the growth of mobile services appears to be stimulating a new wave of optimism concerning the potential of mobile application to deliver greater scalability, replication and sustainability than has been achieved in previous phases of information communication  technology for development.”
Sharma said, GT&T considers the Linden to Lethem corridor vital to Guyana’s current and future commercial and national development interests and to that end, it has, as part of its planning strategy and capital expenditure allocations, continually factored in improving voice and data communications in that region, notwithstanding the high deployment costs of rural communications infrastructure
He said, along this corridor, they have cell sites at Wisroc and Mabura and the now presence in beautiful Aranaputa Valley, two in Lethem with works in advanced stage at the important Kurupukari Crossing.

ROLLOUT PLAN
These mobile deployments are the first stage of a rollout plan, the next phases of which will include green power solutions and broadband delivery via those nodes, given the criticality of data to ICT development and commerce, Sharma explained.
The Aranaputa Cell Site, which serves Annai and its environs, was deployed given the recognition that the North Rupununi was insufficiently served by the GT&T rural radio booths and that this strategic demographic area serves as a hub for North Rupununi in areas such as business, educational and health matters and, as such, needed wider access to the national communications network.
Sharma said this facility will, no doubt, have a transformative effect on lives both in the manner residents conduct business and social relations.
“In this context, I must mention the duality of benefit with our mobile cellular service and the recent launch of Mobile Money Guyana Ltd,” he added.
Sharma said the concept of an electronic wallet integrated in the mobile phone infrastructure is of tremendous significance in remote and rural communities that are typically under-banked.
“Our plans for investment and expansion are enormous and we will continue to expand and upgrade our services to ensure Guyanese, wherever they live, have easy and affordable access to these vital services,” he pledged.
Sharma said it is their intention to continue optimising coverage and monitoring traffic trends that will further guide planning, in conjunction with broad band deployment and delivery, since they recognise and acknowledge that mobile data rates via the GT&T 2G system will be insufficient to long term needs of local communities.
Continuing, he said: “Of course, this is not a matter that is entirely in the hands of GT&T. It is, for several years now, that we have been engaging the Government in discussions on spectrum allocations.
“Thus spectrum allocation is integral to our plans to upgrade our sites and deliverability of 4G or as popularly called ‘LTE’.
“We have publicly stated that we welcome liberalisation of the telecommunication sector as we recognise that the deepening of this important sector is integral to the overall development of our country.
“However, liberalisation needs to be done in an orderly, structured manner, so phased that it reflects transparency and, from our perspective, recognition of and respect for contractual rights and obligations. Investors’ confidence can only be enhanced when the sanctity of contracts and legal agreements are respected.
“In closing, I wish to extend sincere thanks to the community and the regional officials for accepting us into all your villages and the hospitality shown to the GT&T team.
“And also to the directors and staff who worked tirelessly to bring this project to fruition.”
Regional Chairman Lorentino admitted that the Region has now been made richer with the installation of this communication facility which will see the opening of residents to the information super highway and will change the way of conducting business there.
He affirmed that cost of travelling will now be eliminated, since more business can be done via the communication network.
Lorentino lamented, though, that access to the Internet will change the ways of students, since they are now able to research their homework, etc, and engage in social media interaction.
GT&T is the first to bring cellular service to Lethem and can attest to the number of business developments in the Region and its surrounding villages, he said, stating that they await the connectivity of the cellular site at Kurupukari to complete telephone access along the Linden/Lethem road.
Lorentino made a special call for the maintenance and servicing of telephone booths in the remote and satellite villages which serve very vital communication in health and security emergencies.
Williams declared how proud he was to see a dream of his come through, in the cellular facility, which will now facilitate communication to the outer world and the villages.
He said he had spoken to the former CEO and received a promise to which he can testify has been fulfilled.
Williams confirmed there will be a more effective link amongst the villages and dissemination of information would be more accurate and timely.
Residents were given the opportunity to purchase their individual mobile devices which went on sale immediately after the formalities.
The placement of a symbolic plaque was done by Sharma and Lorentino to mark the occasion.