By JADE RUSSELL

Tribune Staff Reporter

jrussell@tribunemedia.net 

The Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority (URCA) is actively investigating service outages by the Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) and Aliv, and it is hoped the investigation will be completed in the next few months.

Juan McCartney, URCA’s corporate & consumer relations manager, told The Tribune yesterday that URCA is concerned about the environment in which the licensees are providing quality of service for consumers, particularly on the Family Islands.  

“So what we had over the summer months, in particular, were a series of outages in various islands regarding both service providers Aliv and BTC,” he said. “So URCA is currently conducting an investigation into all those outages to better understand what occurred, and what sorts of remedies should be applied.”

Mr McCartney said URCA’s rules for outage reporting and mitigation are out for consultation. He said these rules will assist in more “stringent regulations” on the reporting of outages of the country’s major service providers. Along with mitigating the outages moving forward.  

“So, we've drafted those,” he said. “The licensees, BTC, Aliv, etc, they're reviewing them and they're forwarding their proposals. And we're going to publish our responses to those proposals moving forward.”

There was a large outcry about service disruption and network outages across multiple islands this summer including Grand Bahama, Abaco, South Andros, Mangrove Cay, and Mayaguana.

 McCartney said they haven’t received the same volume of reports of outages in the Family Islands since the summer. He said it appears proactive steps have been taken by service providers to address those outages.  

Asked when the investigation on the outages is expected to be completed, Mr McCartney said he could not say at this time.  

“It's often a lengthy process, but they're working on it actively. I wouldn't expect it would last much longer than another few months,” he added.

On November 15, Deputy Prime Minister Chester Cooper said the service quality provided by the Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) and Aliv is “unacceptable” with their failings “difficult to comprehend”.

Speaking at the Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority’s (URCA) digital transformation forum, Mr Cooper blasted both providers over the level and quality of communication services they offer – especially to Family Island residents.

“As far as BTC and ALIV is concerned, we believe that you must find more ways to collaborate within the framework of what is possible within URCA’s guidelines to improve service delivery, most importantly, in the Family Islands,” Mr Cooper said.