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| BTC outage report expected today |
Krystel Rolle
Guardian Staff Reporter krystel@nasguard.com
Published: Jul 17, 2012
For the second time, the Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) has missed its deadline to present a report to the Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority (URCA) to explain last month’s network outage that resulted in the loss of service to thousands of landline and cellular customers. However, URCA Corporate and Consumer Relations Manager Gabriella Fraser said BTC representatives advised that the report will be ready by noon today. The report was originally due on July 9, however, BTC asked the regulator for an extension. URCA then gave BTC until July 16 to turn in the report. Fraser was unable to say whether BTC would face any repercussions because it once again failed to meet the deadline. On June 22, URCA launched an investigation into BTC’s actions regarding the outage. URCA advised BTC that it was conducting an investigation into the outage to ensure that the company took all practical measures to prevent it, and took steps to restore the affected networks within the shortest timeframe possible. The regulator said it has prohibited BTC from destroying or removing any documents or information relating to the incident. “It is critical that such information remain in place, should URCA’s investigation require further audit and inspection of these particulars,” URCA said in a statement earlier this month. BTC suffered a system-wide meltdown, which affected more than 300,000 mobile, landline and broadband customers. Company officials reported that a power outage knocked out BTC’s network management center on Poinciana Drive. BTC is still investigating the outage. BTC CEO Geoff Houston apologized for the blackout shortly after. The black-out occurred while Cable and Wireless Communications (CWC) CEO Tony Rice was meeting with Prime Minister Perry Christie. Christie called the incident the “greatest collapse of communications services” in The Bahamas. He has pledged to return majority ownership in the company to the government. URCA CEO Kathleen Riviere-Smith said in the statement once BTC has fulfilled its reporting requirement to URCA on the network outage, the regulator expects an additional four weeks for completion of its investigative review of the matter. |
