IT&E: Network outages due to maintenance of generators

The maintenance of IT&E generators may result in network service disruptions from time to time until commercial power is once again restored to the island, IT&E said yesterday.

IT&E has relied solely on its generators for power since Typhoon Soudelor crippled the power grid more than two weeks ago, forcing the company to increase maintenance cycles for the repair and refueling of equipment.

“We want to express to the people that we are in the same boat that everyone else is,” IT&E sales and marketing manager Hans Mickelson told Saipan Tribune.

IT&E explains that in order to conduct maintenance—such as oil changes, refueling, and repairs—there is a minimum cool down period and this may result in some service interruptions at various locations depending on where the equipment is located.

Meantime, IT&E is expecting the arrival of new generators sometime this week.

Rob Harrell, IT&E executive director of customer operations, said they have been “band-aiding” the generators in use now.

But the other generators coming in will be the “primary” generators.

“The new generators…are actually higher capacity than the ones that are currently there,” said Harrell.

“We have a 125 [kilowatt generator] at the airport, for example—we are going to put in a 150-kilowatt generator,” Harrell said.

There are 21 cellular sites across the island.

On Sunday, an IT&E generator that powered services to the Emergency Operations Center on Capitol Hill went offline in the late afternoon.

Also last Thursday night, there was a network outage in Gualo Rai and Garapan.

IT&E’s bigger generators are in Lower Base, Gualo Rai, Kagman, airport, and Nan Ocha.

“The fail-safe mechanism turns them off,” Mickelson said, referring to the generators and the recent outages.

Mickelson said the Federal Emergency Management Agency has provided two generators to assist with the outage.

In related news, IT&E reports that the network problems around San Vicente and the Saipan airport were due to damage done to their fiber line, which is underground.

According to Harrell, Commonwealth Utilities Corp. crew dug up their underground cable during power restoration efforts.

They were able to reroute some services to the airport, according to Harell as of press time yesterday.

Saipan Tribune was unable to obtain comments from CUC.

Harrell said that based on initial assessment, CUC damaged a fiber cable, a 200-pair copper cable, and 4” spare conduit.

Mickelson said they would like to remind the community to call in for “toning” before they rebuild after the typhoon.

Toning is a procedure that identifies buried lines or cables underground. All of IT&E’s network is buried.

“We’d like to remind residents as they are rebuilding to be careful where they lay their foundation” for water pipelines and such, Mickelson said.