AT the end of 2017, at least 20,000 homes across Guyana will be able to benefit from GTT’s newly-introduced ‘Blaze’ high speed Internet, which offers a download speed of up to 50 megabits per second (mbps).

The service was officially launched by the telecommunications giant on Saturday during an exhibition at the Guyana National Stadium, Providence, East Bank Demerara.
The investment for the service is estimated to be around US$25M (G $5B). GTT’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Justin Nedd said that as development of the service continues, that figure is expected to climb.

The GTT ‘Blaze’ plan offers three options to consumers.
The first is the ‘Ignite’ plan for $8,999 which offers 5mbps download speed and 2mbps upload speed. The second option, the ‘Flaming’ plan for $10,999 allows users to download up to 20mbps and upload at a rate of 8mbps. The ‘Inferno’ plan which costs $13,999 monthly provides a download speed of 50mbps and an upload speed of 15mbps.
According to Nedd, “this is the fastest Internet to be provided in Guyana”. He said the speed is comparable to those in the developed world, including the United States (US) and Canada.

Installation charge for the service is $12,000 and this provides for an Internet device, which the CEO said is neither inferior nor is it available on the market. The package also includes an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) device.
Nedd explained that these two equipment and the value of labour to install the service, pushes the overall cost to just about $100,000. However, consumers will only pay $12,000.
Customers will also receive a complementary Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) phone. This will allow them to make overseas call.
Asked how the company will compensate for the loss by allowing customers to make overseas calls with this phone, the CEO said that the company has a “long term vision”.

LONG HAUL
“We are here for the long haul. We could charge everybody a million for service but [we]

could be out of business because people can’t afford it. So we really want to invest for the long term,” he said.
So far, more than 1000 customers are using the service, and the CEO boasted that by the end of the year, more than 20,000 homes will be able to benefit from it.
He was keen to note that the provision of that service will not be limited to Georgetown, as communities in Region Three are already benefiting.

He pointed out also that while some rural communities will not be able to access the service due to limited infrastructure, the only way to ensure this is rectified is by building private-public partnerships.
Further, Nedd said that if it is realised that the response is overwhelming, then the service will be introduced to areas which were not initially identified.
Asked why the company took so long to introduce this service which Guyanese have been eager to subscribe to, the CEO offered that “money is a finite thing”.

He reiterated that GTT looks at investments on the long-term, and so since it introduced fibre-optic cables in 2010, the company spent time examining and understanding the market.
Guyana has a population of 749,000. Nedd noted that the introduction of these plans requires years of work and major investments in the country.
Meanwhile, several companies are already partnering with GTT to provide their services with a more reliable Internet option. Those companies include: CAME Automatic Gates, Starr Computers, Radioshack, Payments.gy, Ditec Automatic Gates and Doors, Moviestar, Innosysgy – Cloud Solution Platform, and Richard Wilcox – Garage Doors.

The services provided by those companies are accessed via applications, which are powered by Internet connection provided by GTT.
GTT made its entrance in the Guyanese market in 1991. At that time, the country relied on satellite Internet. However, in 2010, the telecommunications company introduced submarine cables.
The submarine cables, according to the CEO, allows for more capacity. Currently, it is the only company in Guyana relying on submarine cables.