| Government says that it will “rollout” the US$32M ($6.4B) Coastal Programme that complements the Lethem to Providence fibre optic cable, by June.At the project’s conclusion, residents from Moleson Creek, East Berbice, to Charity, Essequibo Coast, will enjoy high performance, high speed internet with high density connectivity being made available in the most populous areas along the intended route, a government statement said yesterday.The project has been in the making for a while now following an agreement signed several months ago between President Bharrat Jagdeo and former Brazilian President, Lula Da Silva.Project Manager, Alexei Ramotar, according to the release yesterday, said that the contract with Chinese tele-communications giant, Huawei, has already been signed and the company has dispatched a Project Manager, with two more to follow.Already, the government has signed commercial agreements with the Chinese Government.According to Ramotar, the first part of the project being undertaken is what Ramotar termed a ‘desktop study’ where the project design will be reviewed and revamped if necessary.After this, work on the Wimax sites will commence.Including in the programme is the construction of 33 Wimax sites for urban centres and 16 sites for transmission in rural areas.The official explained that the programme will “piggyback” on an ongoing Guyana Power and Light high voltage transmission project which is rolling out using high capacity fibre cables.This,Wholesale Jerseys, Ramotar said, will see project costs being reduced drastically.Works being done to lay the cable at Kuru Kuru last week.The cost for the project includes the equipment, the 49 towers and a data centre, considered the heart of the project, and will connect the coastal fibre optic centre to the hinterland project that is being rolled out from Lethem to Providence, East Bank Demerara.The data centre will also have applications for VOIP and data conferencing especially for the University of Guyana’s Turkeyen and Tain campuses, Ramotar said.The investments into the fibre optic cable from Brazil are “part fulfillment” of a promise to improve access to the internet locally, at a cheaper and more reliable rate, the government release said.Government has released $1.8B this year to fund a project to distribute 90,000 laptops to poor families and key organizations.Last week, authorities announced that 10 per cent of the laying of the 570-km fibre-optic cable from Brazil has been completed.Last year, the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GT&T) commissioned a US$30M fibre optic cable that was expected to drastically improve bandwidth in the country.Last week, Public Works’ Engineer, Walter Willis, disclosed that the laying of the Brazil cable is being done in five sections–from Lethem to Annai; Annai to Kurupukari; Kurupukari to Mabura; Mabura to Wisroc Junction, Linden, and Linden to Providence.Currently, Dax Engineering is laying the cable at the Wiscroc Junction while Mekdeci Machinery and Construction is working three lots and Dynamic Engineering, the fifth section.It was explained that 59 km of the cable will be suspended from Linden to Providence with work already started from Kuru Kuru to Soesdyke.Ramotar has said that the project to lay that cable from Brazil has been divided into sections to facilitate the construction of repeater sites, which are crucial for optimizing signal strength, and also capable of adding more users.The Brazil cable is expected to provide high speed internet access with speeds of up to 10 gigabits per second in some areas. |
