The Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GT&T) has seen a further decline in its wireless subscriber base,Cheap Arizona Diamondbacks Hoodies, and a reduced number of calls home by overseas-based Guyanese in light of the world economic slowdown has also hurt profits for the company.But, according to the company’s chief financial officer Yog Mahadeo, the figures should be seen in context, and should also take into account the huge losses as a result of the illegal bypass of international calls, which robs the company of almost G$400M.GT&T’s parent company, Atlantic Tele-Network (ATN), which saw its earnings take a nose-dive because of the losses in Guyana, said wireless revenue declined by US$0.7M in 2008 as increased competition led to a decrease in the company’s wireless customer base to approximately 248,Air Max 98 Gundam For Sale,000 subscribers as of December 31, 2008.Based on end-September 2008 figures,Gorgui Dieng Jersey, it means that the company lost 25,000 wireless customers in just three months.However,Nike Shox Women Clearance, Mahadeo said that some of the company’s TDMA customers were factored into that calculation.He explained that at the start of 2008 the company would have had about 53,000 TDMA subscribers, and they continued to be noted in the accounting scheme.When GT&T moved to factor out TDMA, these “losses” would have been reported, when in fact some of those TDMA customers switched to GSM.So, while the company would have lost some of its customers, the number has to be taken in context, he suggested.In addition, he said the fact is that the subscriber base fluctuates, based on the promotions between GT&T and the other wireless provider – Digicel.“In Guyana, the wireless results were disappointing. While the continued loss of subscribers was mainly composed of low-value subscribers, wireless revenues declined significantly in that market,” said ATN’s Chief Executive Officer Michael Prior.“We believe we have the better network and offer better value, but we still need to convince more consumers of that,Alexandre Texier Jersey,” he added.All of ATN’s international long-distance revenue is generated by GT&T, and this was US$11.1 million in 2008, a decrease of US$2.2 million or 17 percent of 2007 revenues.ATN said it believes the drop in revenue is primarily a result of a considerable increase in illegal bypass activities in September-December, 2008, resulting in lost revenue opportunities.Mahadeo told Kaieteur News that GT&T loses as much as US$2M annually because of illegal bypass. GT&T has said in the past that there are individuals who are bringing international phone calls into Guyana by a variety of means, and utilising the mobile networks of both GT&T and Digicel to distribute these calls locally to Guyanese consumers.The average customer becomes aware of this when and if he/she receives an international call “from” a local cell phone number.However, in addition to illegal bypass, ATN said the drop in GT&T’s long-distance revenue was as a result of overall reduction in call volume into Guyana as an outcome of the current worldwide economic slowdown.“We have taken additional actions to stem that activity (illegal bypass), which not only robs GT&T of revenue and profit but also significantly reduces the government’s VAT and income-tax collections,” Prior stated.He lamented that although governmental authorities have made some effort to assist the company to stem illegal bypass “we have yet to see a major reduction in bypass activity.”GT&T however saw a slight increase in its local telephone and data revenue as access lines increased from 132,000 lines to 139,000 lines, or five percent,Cheap NHL Jerseys, but this did not help to increases the fortunes of its parent company, which saw its net income decline by eight percent over the previous year.This was due in part to the decrease in Guyana’s international long-distance revenue, ATN said, as well as the addition of the early stages of business of two others of its subsidiaries.