–Min Hughes urges in face of unstable Internet, telephone services

MINISTER of Public Telecommunications, Cathy Hughes, on Friday asked that consumers bear a bit, as her ministry is working around the clock to free up the provision of telephone services here.

“We are currently trying to end the monopoly and get out of the contract the Government of Guyana has with GT&T,” she said.
“Those proceedings are going very well, although they are going very slow; and I have been battling with that since December 2016. And I am happy to say that December 2018 is not going to catch us,” she told members of the Berbice private sector during an impromptu meeting with them.

Minister Hughes’ comments came after concerns were raised by the private sector about the abysmal quality of Internet and landline services they’re being provided.
The meeting, which was facilitated by the Office of the Prime Minister representative in Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) Gobin Harbhajan, was held at the Nand Persaud International Communications (NPIC) call centre in Tain, and saw among those in attendance several representatives from the Central and Upper Corentyne Chambers of Commerce as well as representatives from the IT Centre at the University of Guyana.

Acknowledging that 90% of the complaints her ministry receives are about the instability of both the telephone and Internet services, Minister Hughes assured those present at the meeting that they’ve already begun putting measures in place to remedy the situation.
“We recognise we have to change the landscape, and I would like to say and reassure you that we are about 80% complete,” she said, adding:

“And by that I mean by that GTT has always had a monopoly; legally, nobody else can come into the market to provide the service.
“Digicel was allowed to provide service in the mobile cell-phone area, and so what we had to do was write new legislation to the parliament and we passed that legislation.”

Conceding that the Guyana Telephone & Telegraph Company has played an important role in Guyana’s development, Minister Hughes said there should also be equal opportunities for other partners and companies to come into the telecommunication landscape, as this will allow for more options to choose from.

“I think only when we have competition are we going to be able to ensure that the quality of the service increases,” she said.
In light of the coming telecommunications reforms, she is urging the private sector to try and cash in early on the opportunities that would soon become available.

She is particularly encouraging that they get into the call-centre business, which has the potential to employ several hundreds persons readily as there would no longer be the issue of bandwidth redundancy, which has been a deterrent for many investors who are sending their businesses to the Philippines.

She is also urging the average person to make ample use of technology in their everyday lives, especially their jobs, so that they can improve themselves and their marketability.
Minister Hughes said the Ministry of Communications has already engaged the Caribbean Communications Union, the representatives of which will be coming to Guyana between the July 9 to 13 to hold several community interventions, where at least one of the days will be in Berbice.

The team is expected to show what the other possibilities are for the various sectors with the use of technology, especially in the field of agriculture.
On that note, the minister encouraged the youths in the region to help the older generation to make use of the technology that is available, and be there to show and guide them along the way.