From the Diaspora…FIBRE OPTIC FIASCO, WILL HEADS ROLL AFTER A $BILLION WASTE?

By Ralph Seeram
Many people may not know that the rapid global expansion of communications and computer networks is due to fibre optic cables. A single strand of fibre optic cable can carry more data than a hundred pairs of copper cable. You my readers may not realize that the speed of your computers depends largely on fibre optics network.
Internet in Guyana is notoriously slow as Guyanese can attest to. If I am not mistaken Guyana probably ranks at the low end for internet speeds in the Caribbean area.
During my working years in New York City I worked as a network technician for a very large company that supplied Stock Market Information to all brokerage houses on Wall Street.
My job was not only to install computers but I was also involved in running (stringing) cables in buildings, not ordinary buildings; I am talking about Skyscrapers.
One of the problems we encountered was that these buildings were constructed before the computer era, so the conduits to run cables from the basement to say the 30th floor only catered then for telephone lines. With the explosion of computer networks and desk top computers the need to run more cables became critical and the conduits or pipes did not have the capacity to hold more cables.
Enter fibre optics to the rescue. A single line of fibre optic cable could carry all the data than hundreds of pairs of copper wires that filled up the conduits. It was a blessing; it not only required less space but was way faster than copper lines. When we decided to run fibre optic lines in our building we got a rude awaking; we were not qualified to run the cable; it was a special job so we had to get training to handle and join those cables.
They are delicate and can be easily destroyed if you are not trained or experienced in handling it.
So it is when I read years ago that Guyana will be “stringing” a fibre optic cable from Brazil to Georgetown, it got my attention. This was no ordinary job like cabling a building. This is laying cable hundreds of miles in a jungle terrain, subject to the elements, rain, damp humid conditions, water and animals.
That is a challenging task that should be undertaken by an experienced international company as well as experienced Guyanese personnel.
Such terrain requires a cable with special coating to help it withstand the elements, plus you need experience with the connectivity. I was so surprised when I heard that local companies were involved in laying these cables. I can bet the employees of some of these companies never knew what a fibre optic cable looked like much less lay them.
Local companies might have been employed to dig the trenches to lay the cable that should have the extent of their involvement. This was a job for an experienced international company period.
Now after a billion Guyana dollars the government found out its mistake, a costly mistake for the Guyanese taxpayers.
My question is who will take responsibility for this waste of Guyanese hard earned money. First, if the private sector was the head of the project Alexi Ramotar would have been fired. This project was way over his head. Question is would the President’s son be fired for his gross incompetence?
Trouble is the PPP has a way of rewarding people for incompetence and mediocrity; they get promoted, not demoted, they get rewarded for failure, and yes failure is a ladder for promotion in this government. So I ask the question, will heads roll? By the way, do Guyanese know who made famous that term “heads will roll”? No less a person than the father of the present Works Minister Robeson Benn, Brindley Benn.
Roger Luncheon, who is great at ambiguity, said that the project needs “remedial” work. Remedial my foot. They practically have to start over that project. It costs more to correct a job than to start afresh. So we have a billion dollar mistake due to nepotism.
Looking back, the government had no need to get into the fibre optic business. Had they deregulated the telecommunication industry and released the grip of GT&T, private companies like Digicel would have filled the void. That was a wasted one billion dollars that could have gone into University of Guyana, the Health Care systems or other projects that directly benefit the ordinary Guyanese.
Meanwhile, until the industry is open to competition I will continue to get ‘drop calls’ to Guyana. My Skype calls will continue to drop several times before I can complete a decent conversation by using Facebook messenger phone service. I avoid being ripped of by GT&T.
And please don’t tell me the telephone company is losing money from these calls. It charges for the internet service.
So once again will Alexi Ramotar’s “head roll” for the billion dollar fiasco? We await his promotion.
Ralph Seeram can be reach at email: ralph365@hotmail.com and Facebook