Chief Executive Officer Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company Ltd speaking at the launching of the GSM Cellular Network at Lethem recently.

The Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company Ltd (GT&T) has launched it.s fifty-first cellular site with the commissioning of the Lethem facility as it continues its drive to take telecommunications to various parts of the country. The launching, attended by senior company executives including Chief Executive Officer Major General Retd Joseph Singh, DGM Terry Holder, Directors Pam Briggs, Michael George, John Persaud and Russell Davis, was also graced with the presence of members of the local business community and regional officials among others.

Representatives of the municipal body of the bordering Brazilian township of Bon Fin were also in attendance. In his feature address to the gathering CEO Singh saw expansion of the cellular network as more than the introducing of a service but a step towards achieving the company.s commitment to bridge the digital divide. "Companies like GT&T in developing countries have been challenged to reduce that digital divide. The digital divide exists, though, not only between the richer and poor countries. It exists within countries, between urban and rural or remote communities. What we are witnessing here at Lethem is a sincere attempt to reduce the divide within Guyana", Singh told guests at the opening ceremony.

The CEO further said that introduction of new technologies like GSM are not an end to itself but rather the building of a platform which aims to improve the lives of the people in the region, which can further help to develop the human potential of young people.

"What we are doing is establishing the foundation/platform from which children in schools can benefit from ICT; in which administrative centres could be established, where residents could have access to Internet and business people could be in contact with their counterparts", Singh said.

He urged residents to take full advantage of the developments, while highlighting the ongoing work by the company.s technicians to construct a similar site in the Region Eight (Potaro/Sipraruni) community of Mahdia.

CEO Singh also took the opportunity to outline the significant demand for the new GSM service, which was launched as part of GUYEXPO in September 2004, while recognizing the need for quality service.

In this respect, he assured that GT&T continually monitors network performance with a view to ensuring corrective measures are taken towards maintaining and improving its performance.

However while responding to the demand for cellular, including the modern up-to-date applications; the CEO said that the company is certainly not abandoning its commitment to continually roll out landlines across the country. This fact is borne out by the company.s achievement of 100,000-odd lines and the continuous installment of thousands more in several villages and towns at an average of some 10,000 per year. This, he noted, was creditable especially since the country has been classified as a low-income one, and moreso with the lowest rates in the Caribbean, GT&T could still boast a household penetration rate of 40%, exceeding countries with a higher per capita GDP.

Singh, while noting these achievements, however acknowledged that despite the progress, there are still some communities listed as unserved and underserved, who are demanding and deserve service. .We have an obligation to provide service and to maintain financial viability which fuels service rollouts.. The CEO added that men, money and machines at the company.s disposal does not however allow for roll out of service to all unserved areas at once, but that it has to be done in a systematic way after careful planning to determine how much is practical every year.

The ceremony, held at the Takatu Hotel obliquely opposite the Lethem exchange, and chaired by DGM Holder, also saw Marketing Director George making brief remarks. Mr. George in his discourse highlighted the benefits of the new GSM network, including its features and plans for further upgrades. He also spoke of business possibilities including C-Point and card vending for persons in the border community.