APPROXIMATELY 800 hundred Guyana Telephone and Telegraph customers in the lower East Coast Demerara area are currently without telephone service as a result of extensive damage done to GT&T’s cabinet facility at the junction of the University Of Guyana Road and the Railway embankment.GT&T has been unable to ascertain the details of the cause of the damage to the cabinet which houses telephone cables, but surmises it may have resulted from a ‘hit and run’ accident.
The areas and institution affected are Liliendaal, Turkeyen, University Gardens, Sophia and the University of Guyana Campus.
Contrary to a report in a section of the media, the site of the damaged facility was inspected on May 31, by engineers and security personnel from GT&T. The damage has been assessed as extensive and will require major civil works. While the company is unable to release a restoration time-frame, the engineering review and design for emergency restoration is in progress.
The type and extent of damage to the cabinet is the second such within recent times, the other occurring at the junction of Main and Middle Street in March, 2015.
“We again appeal to the public to report acts of vandalism by calling our confidential hotline number 0908,” GT&T said in a statement yesterday.
“A significant reward is offered for information leading to the arrest of persons involved.
“GT&T wishes to remind everyone that disruption of communication facilities can have a major adverse effect on the security, economic and social life of all citizens,” the statement added.