GTT Partners

ATN began working with GTT to expand and improve the quality of services, provide interconnection, provide public interest services, and guarantee the privacy of communications. These service improvements were completed with no service rate increases for 3 years. To facilitate these efforts, staff training and career development became a focus, along with improving employee benefits by adding health insurance and retirement plans. GTT encountered challenges including obsolete technology, with network and facilities that were in need of maintenance and upgrades. In a country with a population of about 750,000, scattered across a land mass of 214,000 square kilometers (83,000 square miles), there were a mere 13,000 operating lines and no public call boxes. Only about 52,000 persons had access to telephones and international direct distance dialing (IDDD) was severely restricted. Most international calls had to be placed through a telephone operator. There were about 99 international circuits, and fault reports were high. The incoming call completion rate hovered around 20 percent, and a Telephone Directory had not been printed in years. It would require a consistent infusion of significant financial, human and technological capital to bring the country's networks, facilities and services to 21st century standards. GTT has met the challenge, with the ingenuity of our technical personnel, dedicated staff, and the coaching and investment by our parent company, Atlantic Tele-Network. This investment has been about $20 million US per year for the last 20 years. Today, our network has about 153,000 working main lines. Switching and transmission has been improved by deploying digitization and fiber optic cables. International connectivity has been expanded via access to a number of deep-sea cables including the Americas II cable and a separate deep-sea cable in collaboration with Suriname's Telesur. Modern wireless and radio technologies have been deployed to serve subscribers in remote areas. The internet bandwidth brought to Guyana is now in excess of 3 gigabits and our 2nd generation mobile network is GPRS and EDGE ready. Our mobile subscriber base is now around 280,000 and continues to grow. On the service side, we now offer all of the service features which a digital network provides. IDDD is deployed across the subscriber base, high-speed internet service is readily available and our mobile customers enjoy seamless service almost everywhere. Mobile services include internet service for Smartphones, BlackBerry® push-email service, international roaming in numerous destinations, and the convenience of pre-paid cards. A Telephone Directory has been produced and distributed to customers, free of charge, every year since 1991. Our Internet & Data Smartphone offerings are competitive, as are our mobile service rates. In our two decades of service, we have constantly strived to be recognized as a good corporate citizen. Our contribution to the Government's budget and to the wider society goes well beyond the provision of telephony services. Our staff numbers are around 640, our contribution to Government revenues (via consumption tax, company tax, employee income tax and custom duties) exceeds that of most, if not all companies in Guyana, and our contribution to the social development of individuals and organizations is renowned. Mobile