The only English-speaking nation in South America, Guyana has a small population with among the lowest GDP rates in the region. Nevertheless, GDP growth has been impressive in recent years and economic growth projections into 2016 are encouraging.

Guyana’s fixed-line teledensity and mobile penetration are only slightly lower than the Latin American average, but they are much higher than would be expected considering that Guyana’s GDP per capita is about the third lowest in the region after Haiti and Nicaragua. Negotiations are under way to liberalise the Guyanese fixed-line voice and data market, where the incumbent telco, GTT, holds an exclusive licence. In the mobile market, GTT faces a considerable competitive challenge since the arrival of Digicel on the scene. Guyana has a surprisingly large number of Internet users compared with other economic indicators, thanks to cheap Internet cafés that also offer VoIP services.

Guyana’s fixed-line teledensity is above average for Latin America and much higher than would be expected given the country’s poor economic indicators. Mobile and broadband penetration, however, are well below the regional average.

Guyana Telephone and Telegraph (GT&T), controlled by Atlantic Tele-Network (ATN), has a monopoly over fixed-line services, but it competes with Digicel in the mobile market.

GT&T’s fixed-line monopoly was renewed for 20 years in December 2010, but before renewing it the government drafted a new Telecommunications Reform bill aimed at opening the telecom sector to competition. The bill was abandoned in September 2011 shortly before the national elections, but has since been brought under consideration. It includes provisions to fund a Universal Services Fund through a tax on telcos’ revenue.

Although GT&T’s exclusivity does not extend to the broadband retail market, the company is the only DSL operator. The only effective competition comes from fixed-wireless broadband providers. Neither of the two mobile operators yet offer a 3G service, which the company’s attribute to the lack of available spectrum.

Although fixed broadband services have improved, especially since the opening of the SG-SCS submarine cable in mid-2010, they are still comparatively slow and expensive, and the number of broadband subscribers is small. The submarine cable being proposed by Digicel would provide a second link to international cable infrastructure in the region, and would go far in reducing consumer pricing.

In the mobile sector, GT&T’s mobile unit, Cellink, competes with Digicel Guyana for market share. Both companies operate GSM/GPRS networks.Key telecom parameters 2015 (e)

Penetration of telecoms services	Penetration
Fixed-line telephony	21.1%
Fixed broadband	6.5%
Mobile SIM (population)	73%