Over the last six to eight months, the Guyana Tele-phone and Telegraph company (GT&T) has lost appropriately US$2 million in revenue through international calls that have bypassed the company’s network, Chief Financial Officer Yog Mahadeo says.
In a recent interview with this newspaper, Mahadeo said this problem has been in existence for some time, but stated that there has been an increase in this activity over the last 18 months. He said this activity has not only robbed GT&T of substantial revenue but also the nation, since whenever GT&T loses revenue the country also suffers since lower taxes are paid.
What is telephone
bypass?
According to the Chief Financial Officer “telephone bypass” refers to international calls that are made in and out of Guyana which do not go through the GT&T network. Currently GT&T has the licence for all international telephone traffic. Mahadeo explained that under normal circumstances, someone overseas who is making a call to Guyana would dial 592, which their local phone networks would then transfer to the GT&T switch in Guyana. At this end, Mahadeo explained, the calls are transferred to a GT&T landline or GT&T or Digicel mobile phone.
But he said that while outgoing calls which bypass the GT&T switch are an issue, it is not nearly as big a problem as the incoming calls that bypass the network. This, he explained, is predominantly an issue with calls coming from the USA and Canada.
Mahadeo said bypass occurs because of some degree of selfishness by the giant phone companies in the USA and Canada, who do not care about the revenue lost by GT&T. He said that these large companies may give phone minutes to an illegitimate bottom-house operator in North America. Calls can then be made to Guyana via these illegal operators. According to him, this bottom-house operator instead of sending the call through the GT&T network routes it directly to another illegal bottom-house operator in Guyana. Such an operator, he explained, has a bank of SIM cards which these operators use to send these calls out directly to a telephone numbers. Since these individuals do not have the capacity of the GT&T network they are forced to compress the voice and this results in telephone calls of “horrible quality”. Mahadeo said that when this happens, GT&T is unfairly blamed for the poor quality of these calls which do not pass through its network. He said that another sign that an international call has bypassed the local network is when a telephone user receives an international call which bears a local cell phone number.
Although bypass is common in other territories in the region, Mahadeo said that he was convinced that Guyana was the territory most badly hit by this phenomenon. He made this assessment was based on the significant number of Guyanese who reside in North America, many of whom contact relatives in Guyana frequently.
In an effort to counteract the problem of bypass, Mahadeo said, the ‘Call Home Guyana’ card was launched. This, he said, is a legitimate and cheaper means by which persons overseas can call Guyana. He also said that good quality calls are also assured if these cards are used.
Additionally, Mahadeo said that the company has approached the government for assistance. Further, the local phone company has contacted US and Canada-based telephone companies and according to him, these companies are trying to address the problem as well.
However, the Chief Financial Officer emphasised that the citizens are essential in curbing the problem of bypass. He urged anyone who receives an international call from a local cell phone number, to report it to the phone company. Further, if a caller receives an overseas call of poor quality, this should be reported as well.
Meanwhile, Mahadeo said that so far whenever the company discovers illegal operators it takes appropriate actions against them. However, he said that it was not always easy to find these persons. The Chief Financial Officer emphasised that the company was very serious in addressing the problem even though certain elements of control the issue was out of its hands.
– customers urged to report irregularities
Hopefully you continue to lose more and hopefully jagdeo end this monopoly once and for all.
Mr Mahadeo i have to tell you sir , you and the company you work for is full of it. What happen to the millions your company send out of Guyana ,of which you paid on taxes on and claimed it was for consultation. Do you think SN readers are that stupid. The problem is Jagdeo and the PPP Gov just sit back and let you fellas do what the hell you want.
“Chief Financial Officer emphasized that the citizens are essential in curbing the problem of bypass. He urged anyone who receives an international call from a local cell phone number, to report it to the phone company. Further, if a caller receives an overseas call of poor quality, this should be reported as well.”
Right!!!!!!!!
GT&T has held all Guyanese by the throat for decades with this monopolization of the telecom system. Juts like mobsters and gangsters, they cry when the citizen (regardless if legal or illegal) find an alternative. What is 2M compared to decades of robbing Guyanese?
The telecom system in Guyana a so pathetic that GT&T should be thinking of ways to bring modern technology to Guyana instead of hunting down internet cafes and ‘bottom-house operators’.
GT&T: Where is VoIP in Guyana? I call INDIA for 1-5 cents a minute? Guyana rate? 89 cents from Time-Warner.
People, the solution is very simple: if you give citizens more options, NOT JUST ONE, they will be no need to rob the system.
GT&T’s monoploy is costing the Guyanese People more than 2 million every eight months.
GT&T do u need a bib?…Your service is terrible. I Hope u continue to loss more money..You have taken advantage for many years with ur terrible service.PLEASE, MAKE US ALL HAPPY AND DEMONOPOLIZE..CRY ME A RIVER!!!!
i said it before & i’ll say it again. “it seems to me every-time Gt&t pen any article, they cry like a baby” that’s because they’re a loser. now we have $ 1 a min why couldnt they have that before digicel came to guyana.
one more thing i’m a c-point vendor and i dont make mistake but when a customer make a mistake with their number 99 % times i dont get on to gt&t operators, they either busy or it rang out and that does put me in hot water
Reading the words of someone who is a proponent of a monopoly is like listening to a Colonialist explain why independence is a bad thing!
GTT and the Guyana Government have failed its people regarding telecommunications. Travel to Jamaica, Barbados or Trinidad and you will experience the difference in service options, service coverage, telephone density, internet applications, and a host of other things. I even believe Haiti is ahead of Guyana in this regard – these people should be ashamed. GTT had a very long monopoly that enriched themselves only and they did not use this revenue to develop the telecoms infrastructure in the country. This was a disservice to the people of Guyana but when you are a monopoly and have a complicit government you can behave this way.
The telecoms market has been forced open by VoIP (notice they were careful not to mention this word in the article). The global VoIP market place exceeds $1 Trillion annually with huge Telecoms players across the globe. There are many conferences dedicated to VoIP and in particular buying and selling of whole sale minutes of which GTT itself has participated. These are not bottom house operations – this is the direction of the global market place and monopolies find themselves in a very difficult position since this technology is a threat to their monopoly status. Every telecoms entity buys and sells VoiP minutes because they are all looking for a cost advantage to send minutes (traffic) to other countries. Why should someone pay 40 cents to call Guyana? And Why should only GTT have access to this revenue especially when they do not invest it in infrastructure development? The solution is to provide licenses to those who would like to compete in Guyana so as to improve the services in Guyana. Or the Government should set the price and enforce certain standards of the company that benefits from monopoly status.
Lastly, the world is so far ahead of Guyana it is shameful. Across the globe the telcoms and internet infrastructures are improving, voice, data, video and television are streaming online (some can get these on their mobile devices), IP PBX’s are common place, and there are many other things being developed. Where is Guyana? GTT and the government need to answer this question. Businesses are afraid to go into Guyana because the infrastructure is poor. Call centers who operate in Guyana face quality problems because they cannot provide proper services to their clients because of the infrastructure. One call center has closed costing Guyana many jobs.
It is time for us to move forward and we should be thankful for VoIP for driving down the price for calling in and out of Guyana. As Guyanese we need to demand more of our Government, only then can we close the gap with the rst of the world.
GT&T know where the money is…
Incoming calls into Guyana. 40cents/min = million annually
I wouder if a class action lawsuit from Guyanese here in America should be in order.
Afterall momopolies are illegal in the US and since its US Citizens and Residents calling Guyana aren’t we being subjected to this monopoly.
Anyway why bother, its over next year. Wakeup VoIP is here to stay. Stop fighting time…
GT not Easy – you have said it very well, Mahadeo what do you mean illegal trifficking? You want to monopolized the incoming traffic, the same bottom house operators have to pay tax. Dont they! Incoming traffic to GT, the Telcom companies don’t pay gov. taxes let it be known Mahadeo. Don’t blame it on compression and SIM banks blame your company for not providing the QOS, that Guyana should enjoy and should be ahead of. Shame! Shame! Shame!
This is a product of GT@T’s own inefficiency. Had GT@T been planning to update their system there would not be any of this, but they continue to use 19th centry technology in the 21st centry and don’t expect people to react. This is called backward thinking. Update the system and you will see how fast these underground practices will disappear, but as long as it costs more than three to ten times to call Guyana as its neighbours, this will continue. So the answer GT@T: Update your system to cut costs and provide reliable service. Everybody needs good service for their money.
Those unscruplous and selfish telephone companies in Canada and the US should learn corporate social responsibility and selflessness from GT&T. I urge GT&T to offer some courses, run in GT, for these companies.
Meanwhile, go Rebtel go!
GT&T is a single tangible reason why people will not invest in Guyana the cost of doing business with GT&T compared to other countries is unsustainable.
That my friends is the truth!
Imagine what PO ME has been paying for more than 31 years.IS GOOD FU DEM! MECK DEM LAS AN LAS TIL DEM LAS OUT A SITE!!!! MISTA WHA D MAN NAME SHUDA GLAD THAT IT WAS JUST A BYPASS AND NOT A FLY-PASS BECAUSE IT HAS BEEN NOTHING MORE THAN EYE-PASS AND OTHER PASSES ON POOR PEOPLE… PURE TEEFIN-NESS