Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company
| Subsidiary | |
| Industry | Telecommunications |
| Founded | 1991 |
| Headquarters | GT&T Telephone House, 69 Brickdam, Georgetown, Guyana |
Key people |
Justin Nedd, CEO |
| Products |
Wireless Telephone Internet |
| Owner | 80% owned by Atlantic Tele-Network Inc, 20% owned by the government of Guyana |
Number of employees | 650 |
| Website | www.gtt.co.gy |
The Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company is a fixed Local Exchange Carrier (LEC) based in Guyana, South America. It is the largest provider of telecommunication services in Guyana with a subscriber base exceeding three hundred thousand in a country with an average population of seven hundred thousand.[1] Its parent company is the Atlantic Tele-Network.
History
On June 18th 1990, the Government of Guyana (GOG) and Atlantic Tele-Network (ATN) signed an agreement that would create a new, private limited liability company, GTT. ATN purchased 80 percent of the issued share capital and the GOG retained 20 percent of the company.
Consistent with this agreement, the previous telecommunications provider, Government-owned Guyana Telecommunication Corporation (GTC) was dissolved, and on January 28th 1991 the new private sector company, GTT, commenced operations under new management as a subsidiary of ATN.
GTT was granted licenses under the Post and Telegraph Act (Cap 47:01 of the Laws of Guyana) for:
(i) The exclusive provision of public, radio and pay station telephone services and national and international voice and data transmission;
(ii) The exclusive sale of advertising in any directories of telephone subscribers;
(iii) The exclusive provision of switched and non-switched service supported by facilities constructed over public right-of-way; and
(iv) The non-exclusive provision of a) terminal and customer premises equipment, and b) telefax, telex and telegraph services, and cellular radio telephone service.
As a private sector utility provider, GTT's operations and conduct are regulated by the Telecoms Act of 1990, the Public Utilities Commission Act of 1990, and the GOG/ATN Agreement.[2]
Services
GT&T provides local, long distance and international voice services; they also offer prepaid cards for use with land lines. International voice traffic is carried for GT&T by Verizon; international collect calling is provided through agreements with AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, Call Home Telecom, Bell Canada, Telus and British Telecom. The Earth Station in Thomas Lands, Georgetown receives and relays international voice and data traffic.
GT&T provides wireless TDMA and GSM services under the names Cellink and Cellink Plus; a prepaid service is also available with the 'Freedom Phone' and its prepaid cards. Their data provision is through the GT&T Frame Relay Network, hosted with Nortel Solutions. DSL service is available for business and residential customers through their Guyana Online (GOL) service; internet traffic for GT&T is handled by UUNET Technologies.
GT&T recently (July 2010) completed Guyana's first submarine fiber optic cable which is launched under the brand name "emagine".
GT&T also publishes the Guyana Telephone Directory.
Structure
Many of the main offices are located in Georgetown, Guyana. The Corporate Headquarters campus is divided into the Telephone House which houses the commercial headquarters of the company as well as customer service call centers and the operator service center. The Executive Suite, which has its own entrance, parking and security houses, the office space of key employees and executives. The Human Resources offices have a separate building. The Residential Service Unit, houses the residential and government services offices and the collections office. The Central Telegraph Office houses telegram and telegraph services, accounting and finance departments and the office of the Director of Customer Services. The Technical Headquarters in the Thomas Lands area also houses the International Earth Station.
The East Coast Office is located in Beteverwagting, Demerara. In addition to the Regional Manager, is also houses the domestic satellite station. Other commercial offices are located in Retrieve, Linden and New Amsterdam, Berbice.
GT&T also owns a web enabled outsourcing call center to Latin America and the Caribbean, Atlantic Tele-Center, Inc., based just outside Georgetown, Guyana.
Senior Management Team
Founder/Principal Shareowner (Cornelius B Prior) Board of Directors (Justin Benincasa (Chairman), Barry Fougere, Xun Xi, John Audet) Chief Executive Officer(Justin Nedd) Chief Technical Officer (Russell Davis) VP Finance and Corporate Controller (Mark Singh)
Competitors
GT&T's main competitor is European-based Digicel, headquartered in Kingston, Jamaica.[3]