PHILIPSBURG:--- In light of the latest problems encountered the last two days in our telecommunication systems, Minister Ted Richardson, in charge of Economic affairs, Tourism and Telecommunication, called an urgent meeting with the Bureau of Telecommunication and Post, TELEM Group and UTS. All top executives from the three entities were present in the meeting.
The main agenda of that meeting is to discuss with the regulator and the main service providers about the different measures that must be taken to try to avoid similar situation in the future. Even though that at this time the problem occur at TELEM, the island was almost shut down and our way of doing business was almost put top a halt in certain instances. Minister Richardson emphasized on the importance for the service providers to have structured provision for some sort of measures put in place to avoid or remedy similar situations in the future. The Minister also instructed BTP to be more vigilant in their regulation and control when it comes to the different telecommunication services offered to the consumers.
Minister Richardson was elated to learn that the Technical Departments of both TELEM and UTS worked together to solve this problem, the same way when UTS had a similar problem sometime ago. What was specifically important is to also learn that both companies are now working on a more structured approach to have a collaborative understanding established to deal with any and all future technical problems they may face.
The BTP was also instructed to move faster in finalizing the "Quality of Service Policy" that they have been working on since 2011. BTP indicated that all rounds of consultation with the Stakeholders were done and they have the feed back from them. Minor legal consultation is taking place and BTP have indicated that by next week the Minister and his Cabinet will receive the first draft. All present providers in the meeting formulated their approval on the concept to have such policy in place for benefits of the consumers and for the sustainability and the development of their business. The policy is intended to cover all aspect of the quality of the telecommunication services, including telephony and data.
