POND ISLAND:--- TelEm Group mobile provider, TelCell, has announced plans to install three new cell sites on the Dutch side of the island to improve signal quality for residential and business customers.
According to TelEm Group Chief Technical Officer (CTO) Mr. Eldert Louisa, the new cell sites will specifically deal with network issues including dropped calls, interference and poor coverage affecting customers in the Point Blanche, Bush Road and Guana Bay areas.
He said these areas have become a problem during the past several weeks because of interference from neighbouring Anguilla and St. Kitts along with other network issues that have to be resolved with the help of equipment vendors overseas.
"We are attempting to resolve issues that are completely out of our hands by putting in place our own measures to maintain and improve the quality of service our customers are getting," said Mr. Louisa.
He said in the case of interference to the mobile voice and data network, exchanges are taking place with a major carrier in St. Kitts, also with the assistance of the Regulators on St. Maarten and in St. Kitts to find a permanent solution to the problem of interference to TelCell's mobile voice and data network.
The CTO said work will begin this week on a new cell site covering the Point Blanche area which will greatly improve coverage and signal quality, also data services to the Harbour complex. Installation of the other new cell sites will quickly follow.
Another network issue affecting quality of service has been a problem with TelCell customers maintaining service when they are on the French side of the island. This again is an issue that is out of the hands of the Dutch side mobile carrier TelCell.
"Our partner on the French side is upgrading to a 3G network causing TelCell customers to lose their connections when they drive to the French side. This is a temporary situation which will return to the previous excellent service TelCell has provided in the past once these upgrades are completed," said Mr. Louisa. He said while the French side partners cannot give a definite date when the upgrade will be completed, he is hopeful it will be very soon.
Mr. Louisa said a fruitful meeting was held last Friday with the local Regulator holding out much hope that the interference issues plaguing the TelCell network will be fully resolved before too long.
"We sincerely apologize to customers for any poor customer experience issues they may be having at this time while we await a speedy resolution to these interference issues with the assistance of the telecom regulators on the respective islands," added Mr. Louisa.
Telem Press Release
