Update: Investigation BTC Network Outage
The Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority (URCA) has completed its initial review in its investigation into the Bahamas Telecommunication Company’s (BTC) June 18th and 19th network outage.
On July 17, 2012, BTC fulfilled its reporting requirement to URCA, following a one-week extension of the initial deadline that was issued with URCA’s June 22nd launch of the investigation into the outage.
The report submitted by BTC, preliminarily points to system failures associated with BTC’s emergency backup power supply for its Technical Complex, following the loss of commercial power on the stated dates.
At this stage of the investigation, URCA has requested additional information from BTC and has also submitted a series of interrogatories which will allow the regulator to address critical information gaps and provide clarification on key issues.
The operator has been asked to provide preventative maintenance records for the period of 2009 to 2012 for specified facilities and emergency response services, in addition to alarm and fault records for various power systems and equipment. Interrogatories also address issues of backup power generation capacity, personnel assignments and procedural practices, electrical system designs and testing, and a range of other related concerns.
URCA submitted its request to BTC on August 16, 2012, and has given the company 14 calendar days to meet this request. To date, URCA is satisfied that BTC has been open and compliant in this investigation process.
Once the supplementary report is received and URCA completes its review, a detailed statement of the regulator’s findings will be made available to the public, including any appropriate regulatory measures as may be provided for by the Communications Act and conditions of the operator’s licence.
A PDF copy of this release may be downloaded via the below link.
