The authors of the National Development Strategy (NDS) assert that the basis of any efficient information technology sector is an adequate telecommunications system, and state that such a system should provide, at the very minimum "universal" services (which term is interpreted to mean the provision of telephone lines to all who apply for them), and adequate bandwidths for any number of computers.

Unfortunately, the authors of the NDS do not consider that the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company Ltd (GT&T) had, at the time when the NDS was finalised, established the basic telecommunications infrastructure required for Guyana's social and economic development. They believe that the Corporation has not done so because it enjoys a monopolistic status in the country.

Accordingly, they recommend that the nation's objective, in this regard, should be "the liberalization of its national telecommunications system."

The strategy which the NDS recommends to attain this objective is: "First, to provide a non-contentious environment in which a framework for the modernisation of telecommunications can be negotiated. Second, to take advantage of those escape clauses, in the existing GT&T agreement and licence, which already permit competition in some areas. Third, the government should seek to renegotiate the GT&T agreement and licence with ATN, and to develop new partnerships among the regulating authorities, entrepreneurs, consumers and itself. And finally, failing all else, it should resort to the courts."

The NDS stresses that both the existing agreement and the licence should be honoured and should be changed only if there is mutual agreement to alter their provisions, or only if the courts decide that they can indeed be amended. Nevertheless, while these matters are being sorted out, the government should actively encourage the provision of those goods and services, not covered by the agreement with GT&T, by other private investors.

The NDS is adamant that the legislation under which the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) currently functions should also be re-examined, with a view to establishing a strong, independent authority that is capable of regulating the operations of the telecommunications sector, including activities pertaining to those services provided by companies other than GT&T. The new regulatory body should be required especially to safeguard the goal of "universal" service.

Among the other objectives of the PUC, the NDS states, should be the protection of user interests; the resolution of user complaints; ensuring that competitive entrants become established in specific segments of the telecommunications services industry; the establishment of a non-discriminatory policy to stimulate innovation; the encouragement of investments in the public network; and, of very great importance in the context of Guyana's current arrangements with GT&T, the creation of a favourable environment for the interconnection of more network operators and new kinds of customers, with the existing system.

The NDS makes specific recommendations with respect to the computerisation of sectors vital to the country's development. It suggests that a comprehensive plan should be formulated with the objective of completely computerising the Public Service by 2004. It suggests strongly, also, that resources for such computerisation should be obtained either from the coffers of the government itself or from externally-funded projects that are designed to assist particular sectors. In other words, care should be taken to ascertain whether the equipment component of any externally funded project might legitimately contain provisions for the purchase of computers. More specifically, it recommends that the programme for the alleviation of poverty should contain provisions for the purchase of computers to aid in the development of the health and education sectors, and to assist in the enhancement of access to the services of both sectors.

Moreover, because revenue collection and expenditure, financial management, investment, and trade promotion are of such vital importance to the development of our economy, the NDS suggests that attention should first be paid to equipping fully the Revenue Authority; the Budget Office; the Accountant General's Department the Debt Management Division; the Tender Board Division, the State Planning Department, the Statistical Bureau, Go-Invest, the Aid Co-ordination Unit, and the Auditor General's Office. Moreover, realising that strengthening the "central" institutions alone would do little to improve our efficiency and transparency in financial matters, the authors of the NDS insist that in addition to all this, the accounting services in each Ministry and Government Department should be computerised, and that a modern system should be installed to enable inter-connections to be made among the various financial and accounting arms and branches of the government.

In addition, the authors of the NDS single out the education and health sectors for special treatment. For education they recommend that at least one computer should be installed in each primary school throughout Guyana by the year 2004, and that at least one Computer Centre (comprising three computers) should be established in each secondary school and technical institute during the same period. These Centres should train students, not only in the rudiments of computer use but more important at this stage, in all aspects of the utilisation of the Internet. Telephone linkages should therefore be provided.

Furthermore, each department of the University of Guyana should, also by 2004, have had installed at least three computers; with capabilities for accessing the Internet in general, and a range of universities and relevant research organisations throughout the world, in particular. Moreover, the central computer pool which now exists at the University of Guyana (UG) should be considerably strengthened and expanded. More important in the long run, perhaps, is the recommendation of the authors that special attention should be paid to the education of Guyanese in the concepts which form the basis of Information Technology, so that they might become proficient in devising software processes that are relevant to our country's development.

A vital aspect of the strategy is the insistence of the NDS that a comprehensive Computer Internet system should be put in place in order to enhance the quality of the country's distance education programme. Indeed, they stress that the use of the Internet should increasingly play greater and more important roles in this exercise. If this aspect of our development is to be successfully pursued, it would be essential that the PUC negotiate with GT&T the establishment of the necessary telecommunications system. It might also be necessary to grant competitive rights to other private firms to enable them to participate in this very important developmental thrust.

The NDS is also adamant that it should be a requirement that for any teacher to graduate from the Cyril Potter Training College, he or she must have obtained at least a pass in computer science, and that all teachers who possess qualifications in this discipline, or display a facility with the computer, and a capacity to impart these skills to students should be given special allowances.

And finally, in respect of education, the NDS suggests that incentives should be offered to the private sector for it to establish training institutions in computer science, and that all computer hardware should be allowed to continue to be imported free of duty, and that all computer software should similarly be exempted. The priority that is given to the computerisation of these entities that are concerned with the management of our finances, and to the education and training of our people, should also be afforded to the health sector. Specifically, computer systems should be devised (i) to identify pharmaceutical and other medicinal needs to ascertain where it would be most cost-effective to buy them, to monitor their purchase, and to make timely orders for their replacement; (ii) to co-ordinate the referral systems, to follow-up the progress and treatment of referred patients, and to provide transportation, to move patients from the hinterland to the coast; and (iii) to rationalise the relationships between the central government and the various agencies of the regional administrative health systems, by establishing information linkages among them.

Once the problems of the telecommunications system and the operations of the PUC have been resolved, and the basic strategy of computerising the financial, educational and health systems implemented; and once the objective of laying the foundations for a completely literate society has been attained; the stage will have been set for the computerisation of our entire economy. So much so that the NDS envisages that by the end of 2010 the utilisation of all facets of Information Technology would have become a significant and integral aspect of our culture.