…as fiber optic cable damaged for fourth time

–gov’t warns against ‘warped competition’

CRIMINAL minded organisations or individuals have launched an attack on the country’s telecommunication infrastructure aimed at destabilizing Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GTT), the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Justin Nedd said as he called on Guyanese to help the company bring the perpetrators to justice.

On Tuesday, GTT’s fiber optic cable was sabotaged for the fourth time in ten days, affecting over 20,000 customers and putting the country’s residents, national security and emergency mechanism at risk, particularly under the current climate.

On each of the recent occasions, cell, landline and internet services to the natural resources economic hub of Linden, Ituni, Kwakwani, Mabura, Mahadia, Troy Mining and Bartica communities were affected. Backed by the Public Telecommunications Minister, Cathy Hughes, during a joint press conference on Wednesday at the Ministry, GTT CEO, who was “red with anger,” said it is clear that the telecommunication company has enemies, but made it clear that the recent spate of sabotage would only impair Guyana’s Information and Communication Technology (ICT) growth.

The Sabotage
The first act in this recent series of sabotage was detected on July 14, 2017, one day before GTT officially launched the Blaze fibre optic high speed internet. In February, 2017, the company’s fiber optic cable was also sabotaged at a time when it launched its high speed LTE broadband in Essequibo. Over the past 12 months, Nedd said GTT’s loss of service and restoration effort equated to $50M.
“This is money that could have gone to providing more broadband to more homes across the country,” Nedd posited.
It was emphasized that the attacks are executed at strategic times. “Now we are launching the fastest internet in the country with our 50 megabits per second downloads, this is internet that is comparable or faster than most places in the U.S and Canada and we are seeing an increase in sabotage.”

According to the GTT CEO, the recent development is a blatant destruction of the country’s communication infrastructure by rogue elements with clear motives.
“This is being done by people who know what they are doing. This is an attack on the people of Guyana and I want to say this is an attack on the 22,000 households that we will bring 50 megabits per second internet speed to in 2017 alone,” Nedd stated.
In applauding his technical team at GTT, Nedd pointed out that they would have worked long hours to restore services to the 20,000 customers who were affected.
Questioned whether reports were made to the Police, Nedd responded in the positive, explaining that the Guyana Police Force has been very helpful in the past and currently there is an active investigation ongoing.

“Unfortunately, the rate of success is highly dependent on our citizens, our people, our Guyanese to really bring forward information and that has not been as forthcoming as we would like,” the CEO said.
As such, he is calling on persons living in Guyana to assist GTT and the Guyana Police Force in finding the rogue elements whose agenda it is to stymie the development of the ICT sector. Reports can be made to GTT’s hotline 0908.
“I want to ask each and every person to be sheriffs and look out for these rogue elements that would want to hold our nation back. We would offer a very handsome reward to anyone who would help us bring these culprits to justice,” Nedd stated. A reward of $1M is being offered for information leading to the arrest of the perpetrator(s).
It was made clear by Nedd that despite the attacks on the company, it will continue with its mission to provide Guyana with blazing internet speeds.
“GTT will not be moved; our team will not be moved. There is no force, evil or otherwise that will stop us from providing the fastest, most reliable, the most secured communications to your homes and to your businesses,” the CEO stated.

SAD SITUATION
Alarmed, Minister Hughes said it is a “sad” situation and warned that if it is “some warp sense of competition” the perpetrators will face the full brunt of the law.
She said these attacks by persons who seek to thwart development in the country, come at a time when Government through the Public Telecommunications Ministry is upgrading the ICT sector.
“I have been talking about using the internet for health, telemedicine, online learning; we are talking about students today that can only submit their SBAs for CSEC online, and therefore anybody that is callous and uncaring to cut a cable that prevents people in the event of a personal emergency, they can’t even pick up the phone to make a call, students that might be preparing for exams, whatever the scenario is, it is totally unacceptable and we will deal with the perpetrators,” she said.
Vandalism of overhead, on the ground or subsurface cable is an offence and it is a serious offence, she warned while referencing to Section 131 of the Criminal Law Offenses Act Chapter 8:01.

“If this happens to be some warped sense of competition, I want to say that in the spirit of fair competition and trade, all should be allowed to conduct legitimate and responsible business in the sector and to bring much needed service to the Guyanese people.”
She made it clear that the National Telecommunications Agency will not be issuing any licence to any person or organization found culpable of committing such act.
Minister Hughes also used the opportunity to warn drivers, some of whom are guilty of destroying the telecommunication infrastructure.
“For too long we have had big trucks and all kinds of vehicles traversing our streets, ripping up cables, bringing down cables and so I am urging operators of large vehicles to be cautious, to be conscious of overhead cables that are existing in and around our country.”