PHILIPSBURG:--- A second power failure at the Smitcoms building Sunday forced the hand of TelEm group engineers – enabling them to carry out an important cutover of equipment planned for the early hours Monday morning.
The cutover was scheduled to take place between 2:00 a.m. and 7:00 a.m. Monday morning; however, that plan was cut short when the backup power supply located in the Smitcoms building failed for the second time in four days.
“In consultation with the personnel involved with the cutover, an executive decision was made to keep the power off and move forward with the cutover to avoid a second interruption later in the evening and early hours of Monday,” said TelEm Group CEO Mr. Kendall Dupersoy.
According to Mr. Dupersoy, landlines remained connected despite Sunday's service interruption, and some areas experienced a loss of internet service of between one and three hours.
“Messages were posted online and via our website informing of the interruption in service and assuring that we were working diligently to restore connections as soon as possible,” said Mr. Dupersoy.
The CEO explained that the root of the problem is one of two generators connected to the Smitcoms building that is now out of commission due to a faulty part.
“The power department will be sourcing the replacement part on the island at the start of Monday's business day. Failing that, we will fly in the part we need so that we again have two working generators back online,” assured Mr. Dupersoy.
He says the company has spoken with GEBE about notifying TelEm Group of outages prior to their occurrence so that additional steps can be taken to protect company equipment before the power goes out.
“With the faulty generator up and running, we will have five different sources of power going into the Smitcoms building to ensure we do not have similar UPS failures in the future,” said Mr. Dupersoy.
He says an additional measure has also been discussed: having a second carrier-grade UPS installed in the Smitcoms building, thus providing backup to the UPS located there.
TelEm Group apologizes to customers and the general public for a second interruption in internet service on Sunday.
