–with commissioning of Digicel Guyana cell tower in community

By Naomi Marshall

THE days of placing wood in the ground to get signals are over for the residents of Coomacka Mines, thanks to Digicel Guyana which has now provided the area with a cell tower.
A commissioning ceremony for the newly built cell tower was held on Saturday morning, with Minister of Public Telecommunications, Cathy Hughes; Member of Parliament, Jermaine Figueira; Chairman of Coomacka, Dexter Harding; Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Digicel Guyana, Gregory Dean and Head of Marketing, Jacqueline James in attendance along with residents.
Harding, in expressing gratitude, said the initiative will change the lives of not only the residents of Coomacka Mines, but those of nearby communities as well, such as Old England and Three Friends among others. Coomacka Mines is located in Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Upper Berbice).
“People throughout the community were not having proper signal. But in working along with Digicel, we were able to achieve this great opening of this tower here today. This will change our lives forever,” Harding noted.
In detailing the struggles faced by residents to communicate with their relatives and friends in and around Guyana, the chairman said that in the past, they had little choice but to improvise.
“I have recognised that in Three Friends, folks would have what we would call phone booths; they would cut open some bottles and they would put some wood down in the ground at strategic points and they would go to the phone booth I call it but they would have their cell phones, ‘cause, without that particular point, there is no signal,” Harding explained.
Dean told the gathering that the initiative was birthed out of several connection issues the company was having in a number of communities, and in an effort to improve the links, Digicel decided “to kill two birds with one stone.”

ONE OF THE TALLEST
With the tower being one of the tallest in Guyana, Dean noted that it would serve neighbouring communities and simultaneously improve links to communities afar.
He said in the next few weeks, additional improvements will be done across Guyana in terms of switching from 2G to 3G. The upgrades and improvements are expected to be completed by the end of this month.

“It is exciting for us to be doing these improvements and new services and we thank the community, especially Mr. Harding, for their support. We’re very happy with the work done in the community, the assistance we had in terms of getting the site up. Happy to get the service up and running,” Dean said.
Minister Hughes noted that she was truly grateful to Digicel for including the Ministry of Public Telecommunications in the commissioning ceremony and for becoming a very important partner in the government’s aggressive programme to make Information and Communication Technology (ICT) capable.

“This little country Guyana is on its way to being counted in just a few short years’ time among developing countries where telecommunication will play a very big role. More importantly, everything that our communication providers like Digicel do, every tower they put up, every cell site that they establish, everything represents another step in the right direction,” Hughes noted.

According to Hughes, the Ministry of Public Telecommunications has installed free Wi-Fi equipment in 93 secondary schools across Guyana, resulting in the students and teachers having access to free internet in the computer labs and staff rooms. In the future, the government will be donating tablets to the schools to make children’s learning activities exciting. The Ministry of Public Telecommunications has commissioned 56 community ICT hubs along the coastland and in hinterland areas such as Mabaruma, Mahdia, Baramita and Annai.

FREE INTERNET

“For the mothers and fathers and school-leavers, free internet is an inducement for you to surf the net. I want you to use it to find out what business opportunities may lie in store for you, to get creative with the fruits and vegetables that you grow in your communities, how you can sell your products online,” she posited.
She further noted that her ministry is ready to setup an ICT hub that will provide service and free internet access to the Coomacka and Old England communities and to work hand in hand with the residents.

“We will bring the computers in, we will make it available, we will provide the training that you will need,” Minister Hughes assured.
Residents of Coomacka, Elizabeth/Mariah and Old England such as Evona Charles, expressed how grateful they were for the initiative. Charles, who has been living in Elizabeth/Mariah for 10 years, stated, “It would be helpful to me because I use Digicel phone and I use the internet because I’m a student nurse and that would make research easier for me using the internet.”