Roaming is for towns; buy local for anything else
The Guyana Tourism Authority's FAQ says roaming works primarily in urban areas and that, for reliable connectivity, visitors should purchase a local SIM card from Digicel or One Communications. It describes internet as widely available in towns but limited in remote areas. The authority does not publish prices, plan names or ID rules for visitors, so those need to be confirmed at the shop.
One Communications' homepage says it offers prepaid and postpaid plans and lists chat, calls, email and WhatsApp support. It also advertises a 2G network modernisation. We could not open a visitor-specific plan on the company's site, and Digicel's Guyana tourist page gave no usable figures, with plan prices shown as zero, so we do not quote any. Ask for the current visitor SIM terms in store in Georgetown.
4G on the coast since 2019
The Government of Guyana's Department of Public Information reported on 2 October 2019 that GTT had introduced 4G LTE, initially in Georgetown, Great Diamond on the East Bank, Lusignan on the East Coast, Rosignol, Blairmont and New Amsterdam. Customers needed to visit a store to upgrade their SIM cards, and existing customers got a free replacement. The minister linked the upgrade to rising demand for high-speed data ahead of the oil and gas industry.
In September 2026, Demerara Waves reported that One Communications had spent $25 million on technology expansion across mobile, fixed and subsea infrastructure, that 35 cell sites had been upgraded to 4G LTE and that no further 2G or 3G development was planned. The chief executive described financial viability in low-population areas as the main constraint on extending service. These are the company's own statements, not a regulator survey. For a visitor they mean 4G is reasonable to expect along the coast road and in the main towns, and not beyond.
Who runs the networks
Wikipedia's entry on One Communications Guyana says the company was formerly Guyana Telephone and Telegraph, was established in 1991, is 80 per cent owned by Atlantic Tele-Network with the Government of Guyana holding the remaining 20 per cent, and serves over 300,000 subscribers in a country of about 700,000 people. It names Digicel and ENet as its main competitors.
An encyclopedia entry is a secondary source, and ownership shares and subscriber counts can change, so treat these figures as background. They explain why the tourism authority names only two companies for a visitor's local SIM, and why the incumbent's investment decisions largely determine where the signal reaches.
The interior: plan for no signal and no overnight charging
The same Demerara Waves report says remote areas such as Imbotero near the Venezuela border have minimal signal and that residents there rely on Starlink for internet. The company said it was waiting for the government to operationalise the universal service fund, which would let providers invest in commercially unviable communities, and that its investment plan for 2027 to 2029 was expected by mid-2027. President Irfaan Ali had called on providers to bridge the communication divide.
The tourism authority's travel tips say many lodges run on solar power and generators, so you cannot always charge electronics overnight, and recommend a battery backup if you rely on your phone for photos. Bring a power bank, download offline maps, and save your operator's and lodge's numbers on paper. If your tour includes river travel, the UK Foreign Office advises using scheduled services and registered operators with life jackets and avoiding night boat travel.
Entry rules and electricity
The tourism authority's FAQ says all visitors need a passport with at least six months of validity, that most visitors need a visa with exceptions including Commonwealth nations, the USA, Canada, EU countries, Japan and Korea, and that non-CARICOM nationals may stay up to three months. It gives the electricity standard as 240 volts at 60 Hz, though some regions use 110 or 220 volts, and tells visitors to check device requirements. Rules vary by nationality, so use the authority's contacts for your own case.
Georgetown has its own cautions. The UK Foreign Office says crime levels are significant, flags Stabroek Market and several districts as higher risk, and advises pre-booked taxis from reputable companies. Keep a phone out of sight in crowded areas.
Emergency numbers
The UK Foreign Office lists 911 for police, 912 for fire and 913 for an ambulance in Guyana. Because roaming is limited outside the towns, a local SIM with voice is the safer choice if you are travelling out of Georgetown, and in the interior even that may not help, so agree check-in times with your operator.
Networks our Guyana plans use
These are the operators named on our plans for Guyana, taken from the plan data, so the list follows the catalogue.
- Digicel4G
- Digicel Guyana4G
- GTT4G
- U-Mobile4G