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Business losses ‘close to $21M’
The estimated losses sustained on the day when all communications broke down in the CNMI is “close to $21 million,” according to Rep. Roman Benavente (Ind-Saipan).
He said this estimate was given to him during a meeting he had with several businesses on the island.
Benavente said he was told that the “collective losses could reach close to $21 million on the day” that all of the communications, including mobile phone and Internet services went down on July 8 when the submarine fiber optic cable linking the CNMI to Guam was damaged.
The massive outage effectively isolated Saipan from the rest of the world.
The minority lawmaker did not specify the businesses he talked with, but said one automotive parts supplier incurred heavy losses due to canceled orders, or payments that have been canceled, because the company relies heavily on credit cards and online payments.
“I understand that there might be circumstances that are beyond control, but that single day really affected the CNMI,” Benavente said.
Currently, service provider IT&E is working on having its submarine cable repaired.
The CNMI government has placed Saipan, Tinian, and Rota under a 30-day state of significant emergency due to the outage.
Benavente said IT&E should provide a report on how it used a government-backed loan to set up the telecommunications infrastructure in the CNMI.
And speaking of the state of emergency, Benavente said this will allow the CNMI government to demand for the report.
Benavente said the CNMI “guaranteed the loan for IT&E. In order for them to acquire that loan, the government had to step in.” The loan was reportedly worth $9 million.
House Speaker Joseph Deleon Guerrero (Ind-Saipan) earlier said the CNMI seems to have gotten nothing out of the $9-million loan that IT&E used for the submarine cable.
Benavente added the he supports the call for another service provider for the CNMI.
Guam’s incumbent telecom carrier GTA earlier said is still wants to invest and expand in the CNMI.
