‘Senseless’ vandalism

Minister of Science, Energy, Telecommuni-cations and Transport Daryl Vaz has indicated that legislation is to be tabled in Parliament in “short order” to combat theft and vandalism of telecommunications infrastructure.

Vaz’s declaration follows yesterday’s network outage that affected the island’s two main telecommunication companies – Flow Jamaica and Digicel, and was reportedly caused by an act of vandalism that impacted the fibre cables serving both providers.

This “‘significant act of vandalism” impacted residential and business services for thousands of Flow and Digicel customers across the island.

“It is definitely troubling that both networks had issues on the same day, which was like a double whammy,” Vaz told The Gleaner.

Noting the “huge impact” the network outage had on productivity, he stated that the legislation to address such matters has already been drafted and will be brought to Parliament soon.

“I am well aware of the issues that they face with vandalism and theft which we are working hard with police and also with legislation to make that crime more prohibitive in terms of deterring them in terms of the level of fines and imprisonment,” he said.

He added that he was awaiting a report on the incident from both companies.

In a joint statement yesterday, both Flow and Digicel condemned the network vandalism which they indicated occurred early Tuesday morning. The statement noted that technical teams from both companies worked assiduously to rectify the damage and have fully restored services.

“We take this opportunity to again ask for the public’s support as we work to deliver best-in-class telecommunications services for the benefit of our nation. Attacks levelled on our critical infrastructure by vandals not only disrupts our operations, but impact the productivity, safety and functioning of the broader community that depends on these services,” the statement read.

LEGISLATION TO PROTECT INFRASTRUCTURE

Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness, in a statement to Parliament in July last year, said he had instructed Vaz to bring legislation “very quickly” to Parliament to protect certain critical infrastructure.

The prime minister described vandalism against telecommunication companies as “despicable”, and noted that the loss of telecommunications service is not due to incompetence or lack of care, but rather “it’s sometimes the very people who are in your community that do it”.

Meanwhile, Stephen Price, vice president and general manager at Flow Jamaica, labelled such actions as “senseless”.

He called for a collaborative action to address the issue.

“As critical stakeholders in Jamaica’s growth, we continue to invest in our network to ensure readiness for the future and we urge members of the public and other players to join hands with us to address this issue which only proves counterproductive in today’s digital age,” he said, while thanking customers for their loyalty.

Stephen Murad, CEO of Digicel, said the vandalism left him deeply disturbed.

“Such actions are reckless and harmful to nation-building, affecting both Digicel and Flow customers across the country. These destructive acts threaten our society and shared future. Digicel strongly condemns any form of vandalism aimed at destabilising our infrastructure,” he said.

“Every day, we work tirelessly to deliver the most advanced communication services that help drive economic progress, improve quality of life, and empower individuals and businesses alike. We stand united in our goal to build a more connected and prosperous future for all Jamaicans,” he added.

sashana.small@gleanerjm.com