CONSIDERED the biggest ever expansion of access to computers in Guyana, Government’s one laptop per family project is scheduled to begin rolling out within the next three months, according to President Bharrat Jagdeo. Speaking at the opening of GuyExpo, the Head of State explained that the initiative is in keeping with his administration’s efforts to ensure all Guyanese are equipped “for the modern world” with services that include call centres, regional hosting opportunities, data for disaster recovery facilities, subscriber bandwidth services, telemedicine and distance learning.
In keeping with this vision, the President also recently disclosed a plan to establish a centre in each Amerindian community where a bank of computers with internet access will be available. The initiative will be pursued over the next two years, starting with the larger villages.
“All the kids in those communities and everyone else can also learn those computers,” President Jagdeo said.
Telecommunications and modern communications linkages recently became the leading edge of the global economy as globalisation changed the way the world did business.
Access to high-quality ICTs is described as the corner-stone of Guyana’s revolutionary Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) which states that such services will catalyse private sector investment, facilitate Guyana’s rapidly-growing business, double the number of people employed by 2013 and provide the necessary infrastructure to connect remote communities to Government and other essential services.
The full benefits of the sector are already being enjoyed with the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph (GT&T) company’s “E-magine” broadband service that employed the use of the Suriname-Guyana Submarine (fibre optic) Cable System (SG-SCS).
The 1,240 kilometre cable system will connect Guyana and Suriname to Trinidad and Tobago and hence to the rest of the world. It has a capacity of 1000 times the current bandwidth capacity.
The Government will be investing in the introduction of a second fibre optic cable from Brazil and is partnering with Hauwei Technologies, China’s largest networking and telecommunications equipment supplier, to string a fibre optic cable parallel to the a modern transmission main from Crabwood Creek in Region Six to Leonora in Region Three.
Qualfon Guyana, a reputable call centre located at Beterverwagting, East Coast Demerara, has a staff complement of 1200 youths employed as customer service representatives.
With the two new cables coming to Guyana, the company plans to expand its staff complement to 4,200 by the end of next year.
More than 2000 youths are at present employed as customer service representatives in call centres at various parts of the country.
