IT&E urged to compensate CNMI on massive outage

Telecommunications services provider IT&E is being urged to provide credit to the CNMI due to a massive communications outage in the Commonwealth last week.

As of yesterday, communications is still limited to voice services and SMS on Saipan.

While banks and other critical areas are now online, Internet access was still down, except on Rota and Tinian where mobile data services are available, according to IT&E.

IT&E continued work on restoring network services throughout the weekend but their repairs to a “back up” microwave system has not yet returned Internet services to Saipan. (Dennis B. Chan)

The call for the compensation due to the outage has since gained support.

Rep. Joseph “Lee Pan” Guerrero (R-Saipan) said he is supporting the call, adding that credit should not just be given to government, but also to private business and members of the community

“It (credit) should be across the board,” the lawmaker said.

He also questioned IT&E’s maintenance and contingency plans, which he said, were “not done properly.”

“IT&E as the owner of the fiber optic cable, should have mapping of the surrounding areas. Why lay it there when there are so many rocks? Is that the only area available?” he said.

For the acting governor, the possibility of giving back credit due to outage is a topic that can be discussed in another meeting.

“These are things that we can sit down and look at what needs to be done and what accommodation we can do on both sides,” Torres said.

He said he acknowledges the effort of IT&E, particularly on the update the company provided as soon as the damage to its undersea cable was detected.

“I’m sure they don’t want this to happen, and they want to expedite the repairs,” he said.

Alternative

Department of Lands and Natural Resources Secretary Richard Seman said it is probably time for the CNMI to look for alternatives.

He said there has been interests from other companies, including Japan’s DoCoMo and Guam’s GTA to lay down their own cables in the CNMI.

“The regulatory body will determine if this is possible, but another submarine cable installation will be good for the Commonwealth,” Seman said.

He added that aside from telecommunications, the leasing of land for the submarine cable will also be good for the government because the interested parties would lease the land from the DLNR.

Seman said the investments of interested carriers will depend on a number of factors. He said the length of the submarine cable, the capacity, the location, and the size of the area are all factors in the appraisals of the land.

“But I definitely would welcome it,” he said.

Work continues for fiber optic cable backup

IT&E, meanwhile, continued network restoration efforts over the weekend, but Internet access was not yet restored for Saipan as of press time yesterday.

IT&E has been working on restoring their microwave redundancy system, described by IT&E officials as the backup for the downed fiber optic cable between Saipan and Tinian.

The fiber optic cable between Saipan and Tinian was damaged last Wednesday, causing the current network communications crisis.

According to their latest press release, IT&E sent additional crews and materials to Tinian to increase capacity on the island.

Microwave restoration in Rota was ongoing, IT&E said last week.

As of press time, there was no Internet access for Saipan yet.

By Friday, IT&E had one DS3 microwave connection established.

The DS3 microwave connection provided limited communications to first responders and government agencies, IT&E said.

IT&E continued work on providing additional capacity to Tinian and Rota via microwave link but were hampered due to weather conditions Thursday.

IT&E said Thursday they began their effort to provide temporary fiber connection on Tinian as an alternative for additional capacity.

On Friday, Tinian and Rota had access to Internet while no access to Internet was available yet for Saipan.

On Friday, IT&E’s head of engineering Velma Palacios said they would continue work over the weekend.

As of press time, Saipan had long distance calls on landline, landline interisland calls, CDMA and GSM services for voice and SMS, SMS service within the IT&E network, and free local calls for prepaid subscribers.

On Rota and Tinian, similar services were up plus access to the Internet.

More family time on Saipan

With the Internet down and the weather finally clearing up, friends and families around the island have taken advantage by engaging in some leisure activities like picnics and barbecues in pala-palas and beaches that litter Saipan’s coastline.

One community member Delbert Pua told Saipan Tribune that the network blackout on Saipan is actually a good thing for the family.

“This is the best time for families because when we had Internet services everyone else spends their time online. Now that we don’t have Internet, I was shocked to hear from parents that there are a lot of family time…Something that they couldn’t enjoy when they had Internet,” Pua said.

Pua also said that if there was one good side to having no Internet is that everyone is returning to family values.

Amalia Magofna, 21 and one of the young generation of the CNMI, also said that the past few days were good times. Despite the younger generation having a small issue in coping with no Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, Instagram, or Netflix, family time also matters to them, she said.

“It is good and I enjoy the family time that we’re having. It’s been awhile since it has been like this and it is a great time for family to bond more,” Magofna said.

Other members of the community on the beach areas have also said that although they don’t have Internet access, the family gatherings are a plus. (With reports from Dennis B. Chan and Jayson Camacho)