GTT lost billions from Digicel Suriname link – CEO

GTT is estimating its loss from the bypass link Digicel was reportedly using from Suriname to get data service to be billions of Guyana dollars.

The link in question has since been shut down by Surinamese authorities and this is said to be behind disruptions in Digicel’s service. At a press conference on Monday, GTT CEO Justin Nedd shied away from suggestions his company had a hand in its competitor’s woes.
“I do know that they have been working with the operators in Suriname to ensure operations are done in an above-board manner. The Surinamese regulators are doing their job. It’s not unusual for operators and regulators to communicate, but with respect to how they execute their mandate, that’s within their purview,” he said.
Nedd would only admit that GTT has complained about the trans-border link to the Guyana Government. According to Nedd, GTT did not commence or threaten legal proceedings against Digicel.
On the matter of capacity, Nedd maintained that his company was able to provide the same service to Digicel. He referenced times when GTT itself has provided the network for data services in neighbouring countries.
“I am very confident that we have the capacity and in fact, I would like to reiterate that in 2018, we carried all the Internet traffic for Suriname, French Guiana and Guyana. And the network was resilient enough to do it.
“Because there were outages in Suriname and French Guiana at the same time… given the architecture of the Guyana network, it provided enough utility to carry that traffic. So I don’t believe it’s a matter of capacity and I want to dispel that notion. Our network can handle the traffic.”
After GTT raised the issue, the Public Telecommunications Ministry had previously questioned whether GTT had the capacity to provide Digicel with the data service link. Digicel customers have over the past few days been severely affected by the breakdown, with services like electronic to- up no longer available. Calls to Digicel officials went unanswered.
In a previous release, GTT had stated: “We stand ready to work with Digicel to restore their connectivity as soon as possible. We have made commercial offers to Digicel over an extended period to provide capacity that would resolve, or have avoided, their current network failure. We have not taken any legal action against any Digicel Suriname or the Surinamese Government.”