Continuing her visit to departments under her purview, Neneh Macdouall-Gaye, secretary of state for Communication and Information Technology, yesterday, visited the Gambia Cellular Company (Gamcel), Gamtel Serrekunda Exchange on Kairaba Avenue, Gampost Serrekunda branch and the Gambia Printing and Publishing Co-operation (GPPC), and stressed the President’s call for services to be improved.

Receiving SoS Macdouall-Gaye at the Gamcel Head Office in Kanifing, Rein Zwolsman, Gamtel/Gamcel chief executive officer, briefed the secretary of state on the latest facilities of the GSM company, especially the roaming services and the 2008 plans to resolve problems experienced in the past

Mr Zwolsman assured SoS Macdouall-Gaye of their willingness to improve their network coverages.  “On drop calls, these was cause by the lack of maintenance of the equipment we have. But to solve the problem, we have established maintenance teams in all parts of the country to ensure that everything goes normal. On the appearance of the Senegalese Alize network on the screens of customers’ mobile phones, we are also working hard to address the situation,” he said.

Mr Geert, chief technical officer of Gamtel/Gamcel, also assured the SoS of their efforts to transform the institutions.

In her response, SoS Macdouall-Gaye expressed delight with the Gamtel/Gamcel management, stressing the importance of the two institutions to government. She lauded the management for taking the bold step to address the problems in the roaming services within two weeks and urged them to quickly solve problems associated with the drop calls and circuit congestion.

She implored on them to keep the people aware of the successes registered in the provinces, noting that it is President Jammeh’s aim to transform the telecommunication industry and make it accessible and affordable to both the rural and urban Gambians.

On competition, SoS Macdouall-Gaye noted that the government’s realisation of the significance attached to it has resulted to improvement on services. She thanked them for providing services to Gambians but quickly put to them that there is still room for more development as more challenges lie ahead. She then assured them of her office’s continous support.

At the Serrekunda Gamtel Exchange, the Communication and Information SoS was again received by CEO Zwolsman, who led her on a tour of the switch center, where all the calls within Kanifing Municipality converge. She was later briefed on the new soft switch, the latest model, which has a good management record for all the telephone calls.

Augustine Jatta, senior manager at the Transmission Site, briefed the SoS on the fibre cables being used by Gamtel and its efficacy.

For her part, SoS Macdouall-Gaye urged the management to sensitise those who cannot identify the fibre cable and bring to book anyone who tampers with the cable.

At Gampost on Kairaba Avenue, Momodou A Ceesay, managing director of Gampost received SoS Macdouall-Gaye and the delegation. He led the delegation on a conducted tour of the premises.

SoS Macdouall-Gaye then emphasized on the importance of correct addresses pasted on each parcel, packets or envelopes. She then noted that in collaboration with the department of state for Local Government, Lands and Religious Affairs and the KMC, her office is working on a project to ensure that peoples properties are received. This she said will also create job opportunities for young Gambians. She then urged Gampost to advertise the mails yet to be received so that owners can get them as required and to ensure the visibility of the institution.

At the Gampost Bakau branch, SoS Macdouall-Gaye commended the Gampost staff for ensuring that people’s parcels are kept in safe hands as non has been tampered with. She also expressed delight at the very conducive environment in which the Gampost is operating in Bakau and its cleanliness and quickly reiterated President Jammeh’s comments about the importance of cleanliness. She urged them to keep up the momentum.

She was later led on a conducted tour to the 684 postal address boxes in which 384 are occupied and 300 not occupied and quickly called on Gambians to register with Gampost to get their postal addresses.

At The Gambia Printing and Publishing Cooperation (GPPC), Cherno Gaye, managing director of the institution received SoS Macdouall-Gaye and delegation. He briefed SoS Macdouall-Gaye and delegation on the new development and improvements registered in the past year.According to him, the problem of their services to government institutions has been solved and commended SoS Macdouall-Gaye for her untiring efforts towards the matter.

On their marketing strategy, Mr Gaye emphasized that marketing team has been establish and are working to capture the greater part of the market which is really paying dividend as they are receiving requests from several corners.On capacity building, he said they have made a positive stride and would continue to work and improve their current operations. He added that they are looking for another fast printing equipment (four colour press) printing to extend their services.

In response, SoS Macdouall-Gaye commended the management of GPPC for providing feed backs after their official meetings. She briefed the management of the importance of her visit and lauded their efforts in capturing the market. She further expressed hope that the trend will improve and continue and congratulated the management for a great job well done.

She then noted that President Jammeh decided to transform the GPPC and Gampost to parastatals with the sole aim of improving the services delivery and make it more efficient and expressed delight that all what President Jammeh eyed for is positive today. He thanked the management and urged them to ensure quality.

SoS Macdouall-Gaye and delegation were later led on a conducted to where she visited the Graphic Reproduction and Computer Section, the Offset Planning and Design Section, the Book-binding and Finishing Section a well as the Letter Press Composing Section where jobs are numbered.

The SoS continues her departmental sector on Monday, February 11, 2008.