IT&E, Docomo team up on ‘aerial fiber’

IT&E and Docomo were hanging “aerial fiber” on Tinian power poles to improve as soon as last night or today Saipan’s Internet capacity and connection to the rest of the world, IT&E sales and marketing manager Hans Mickelson told Saipan Tribune yesterday.

On Sunday night, the Internet-starved hit their Facebook pages again, after nearly five days of being offline due to damage to an undersea fiber optic cable between Tinian and Saipan. Internet users, albeit on limited and slow connectivity, went online after 10:45pm, the time IT&E restored public Internet.

As of press time, Saipan’s current Internet capacity depended on a repaired microwave link from Mt. Tapochau to Tinian.

Mickelson described the “aerial fiber” as actual physical glass fiber on the poles. He said they were working with Docomo, Commonwealth Utilities Corp., and Telesource on this work.

“We are hoping that tonight or tomorrow that will be provisioned and that it will be fired up,” he said yesterday.

Eight Docomo workers were sent to Tinian with a spool truck on Saturday morning to start work through all day Sunday and yesterday to hang a 12-strand aerial fiber, according to Mickelson. The fiber would go from the IT&E Tinian microwave site down it their central office in San Jose village, he said.

Once hooked up, the microwave connection from Tapochau to Tinian is expected to connect to Tinian’s fiber optic connection with Rota, Guam, and the rest of the world.

“We are going to pick up much more capacity,” Mickelson said, though he could not specify yet by how much.

As for the damaged undersea fiber optic line from Saipan to Tinian, which triggered the CNMI-wide network outage last week, IT&E has identified a repair ship from Taiwan.

The ship is under contract with IT&E per a maintenance agreement, Mickelson said.

He could not say yet when the ship will be on its way but said IT&E is “coordinating” with them. He said it takes them 10 or 15 days to get to Saipan.

“Once we work out the logistics, we will authorize them to sail,” he said, noting that weather is another factor in repairing the cable.

Criticism

IT&E has been on the receiving end of frustration and criticisms over the last week after the CNMI-wide network blackout halted bank transactions, cancelled flights, and shut down Internet connection. The outage is expected to cost a significant amount to CNMI revenues as commerce has struggled.

One point levied against IT&E is that it laid its fiber optic cable near rocks, making it susceptible to damage.

To this, Mickelson said IT&E took the best pathway at the time they laid the cable over 15 years ago, noting that conditions over the years were not going to stay the same.

“We took the path of least resistance at the time,” avoiding all objects, he said.

Mickelson said they do annual routine checks on their line as well as diagnostic tests and contract local divers to inspect their cable.

He said this maintenance costs in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

He also noted that they placed their cable on the leeward side of the island, not on the Pacific side.

To GTA’s reported interest in competing with IT&E, Mickelson said this was possible.

He said anybody could come into the market. “We’ve never been opposed to that,” he said.

On rumors of a class-action lawsuit against IT&E, Mickelson did not comment on this directly but chose to “accentuate the positives,” referring to free prepaid services for local calls, and free voice for CDMA services, among others, that IT&E has offered during the network outage.