Guyana Telephone And Telegraph Company
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One Communications Guyana (formerly Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company) is a fixed
local exchange carrier Local exchange carrier (LEC) is a regulatory term in telecommunications for the local telephone company. In the United States, wireline telephone companies are divided into two large categories: long-distance ( interexchange carrier, or IXCs) ...
(LEC) based in
Guyana Guyana, officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern coast of South America, part of the historic British West Indies. entry "Guyana" Georgetown, Guyana, Georgetown is the capital of Guyana and is also the co ...
,
South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...
. It is the largest provider of telecommunication services in Guyana with a subscriber base exceeding 300,000 in a country with a population of about 700,000. Its parent company is the
Atlantic Tele-Network ATN International, Inc. (ATN) formerly known as Atlantic Tele-Network, Inc., is a publicly traded telecommunications company that is headquartered in Beverly, Massachusetts. It operates digital wireless, wireline, and both terrestrial and submari ...
.


History

On June 18, 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. The GOG later sold these shares to Hong Kong Golden Telecom Company Limited. Consistent with this agreement, the previous telecommunications provider, government-owned Guyana Telecommunication Corporation (GTC) was dissolved, and, on January 28, 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: # The exclusive provision of public, radio and pay station telephone services and national and international voice and data transmission; # The exclusive sale of advertising in any directories of telephone subscribers; # The exclusive provision of switched and non-switched service supported by facilities constructed over public right-of-way; and # 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.


Services

Initially GTT’s focus was on the provision of local fixed line, long-distance and international voice calls. Notably, its primary source of revenue came from
premium rate number Premium-rate telephone numbers are telephone numbers that charge callers higher price rates for select services, including information and entertainment. A portion of the call fees is paid to the service provider, allowing premium calls to be an ...
s dialled from the United States, of which estimates of between 35% and 90% were for
phone sex line A telephone, colloquially referred to as a phone, is a telecommunications device that enables two or more users to conduct a conversation when they are too far apart to be easily heard directly. A telephone converts sound, typically and most ...
s. These services are used today, however not as extensively as before. GTT has expanded its residential portfolio services to include DSL, Blaze, fixed LTE, mobile services and roaming. The company has an application through which customers can pay their bills, view payment history and top up their mobile accounts. smsbot and chatbot are mediums through which customers can interact with GTT representatives and MMG services. International voice traffic is carried for GTT by Verizon, EssexTel, Telesur, BDS (Lime), IDT, TATA, TSTT, Telco-214, AT&T while international collect calling is provided through agreements with Verizon, TSTT and AT&T. The Earth Station in Thomas Lands which previously received and relayed international voice and data traffic is now utilized for domestic traffic. GTT constructed Guyana’s first submarine fibre optic cable which was launched under the brand name “emagine” in the early 2000s. GTT publishes the ''Guyana Telephone Directory''. GTT has developed a smart phone mobile payment system.Guyana T & T Company GTTS Mobile Money Guyana
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Structure

Many of the main offices are located in
Georgetown, Guyana Georgetown is the capital (political), capital and largest city of Guyana. It is situated in Demerara-Mahaica, region 4, on the Atlantic Ocean coast, at the mouth of the Demerara River. It is nicknamed the "Garden City of the Caribbean." It is ...
. The corporate headquarters campus is divided into the Telephone House which houses the commercial headquarters of the company as well as
customer service Customer service is the assistance and advice provided by a company to those who buy or use its products or services, either in person or remotely. Customer service is often practiced in a way that reflects the strategies and values of a firm, and ...
call center A call centre (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth spelling) or call center (American English, American spelling; American and British English spelling differences#-re, -er, see spelling differences) is a managed capability th ...
s 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 Human resources (HR) is the set of people who make up the workforce of an organization, business sector, industry, or economy. A narrower concept is human capital, the knowledge and skills which the individuals command. Similar terms include ' ...
offices have a separate building. The Residential Service Unit, houses the residential and government services offices and the
collections Collection or Collections may refer to: Computing * Collection (abstract data type), the abstract concept of collections in computer science * Collection (linking), the act of linkage editing in computing * Garbage collection (computing), autom ...
office. The Central Telegraph Office houses
telegram Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas pi ...
and
telegraph Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas ...
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 Beterverwagting, Demerara. In addition to the regional manager, is also houses the domestic
satellite station A broadcast relay station, also known as a satellite station, relay transmitter, broadcast translator (U.S.), re-broadcaster (Canada), repeater (two-way radio) or complementary station (Mexico), is a broadcast transmitter which repeats (or tran ...
. Other commercial offices are located in Retrieve, Linden and New Amsterdam, Berbice. GTT also owns a web-enabled outsourcing call center to Latin America and the Caribbean, Atlantic Tele-Center, Inc., located 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 (Damian Blackburn) Chief Technical Officer (Russell Davis) VP Finance and Corporate Controller (David Soo Ting)


Competitors

GTT's main competitor is Jamaican-based
Digicel Digicel is a Jamaican-based Caribbean mobile phone network and home entertainment provider operating in 25 markets worldwide. Digicel has operated in several countries, including Guyana, Fiji, Haiti, Trinidad and Tobago, Samoa, St. Lucia, Surinam ...
, headquartered in
Kingston, Jamaica Kingston is the Capital (political), capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long spit (landform), sand spit which connects the town of Por ...
. Most recently, Enet (Guyana's only locally owned telecommunications network) brought competition to the market.


References

{{ATN International Telecommunications companies established in 1991 1991 establishments in Guyana Telecommunications companies of Guyana