News Headline | Internet Outage Outrage

From Cayman Net News:

Internet Outage Outrage

Raul Nicholson-Coe, President and Chief Operating Officer of TeleCayman with TeleCayman's Director of Operations, Robert Kanner

A leading client of Cable & Wireless in the Cayman Islands is disgruntled over the service that it is receiving from the telecommunication giant and plans to move on.

TeleCayman said Friday's six-hour outage on the Maya-1 system operated by Cable & Wireless badly affected its business and could possibly hurt the Island in the future.

Data and Internet customers of TeleCayman were affected, however, voice traffic remained intact because of its redundant path, according to company officials.

Raul Nicholson-Coe, President and Chief Operating Officer of TeleCayman, raised the concern level several notches after complaints from major clients in and out of Cayman.

"We're extremely concerned about this because Cayman, being a service based economy, it's imperative that we continue to provide services throughout difficult times," he said.

"What's even more disconcerting and of concern for us, is that this is the third time that Maya has failed since September 2004."

In an apologetic press release on Friday, Cable & Wireless said its engineers quickly diagnosed the problem, restored power to the various systems and then restarted operations at 11:00 am.

"The initial cause of the problem early this morning occurred when an AC system failed, which in turn caused a fault in its power wiring and its circuit breaker failed to operate.

"Another protective system kicked in and that removed power from the building as a failsafe method," the release said.

Chief Executive of Cable & Wireless, Tim Adam, said the Maya-1 system is still very efficient and dependable.

"The systems in the Maya-1 terminal building had never been totally de-powered since they were first installed and commissioned some six years ago," he said.

TeleCayman's Nicholson-Coe said despite Cable & Wireless apology to its customers the harm has already been done.

"They were shocked that it had happened twice in less than a year and they're asking questions. This does affect the competitive nature of Cayman as a jurisdiction for doing business," he said.

"If we don't have reliable communication off island the investment we have made here will also be impacted."

The Cable & Wireless Chief Executive said customers had an option of using its Cayman Jamaica Fibre System (CJFS), which operates and carries fixed line, mobile and international traffic.

However, the Chief Operating Officer of TeleCayman said the CJFS system is much more expensive than Maya-1 and is a no-go area for his company.

Mr Nicholson-Coe said his company would enhance the viability of its investment by building its own cable system with the help of other businesses and telecommunication companies.

Five weeks ago, TeleCayman's Director of Operations, Robert Kanner, who is well-experienced in developing and implementing cable systems internationally, contacted International Telecom for a quote to link Cayman to Jamaica, he said.

Mr Nicholson-Coe said the company's latest move to own a cable system would keep the Island competitive as the fifth largest financial centre in the world.

"They're dealing with millions sometimes billions of dollars, one email not getting to a lawyer or an accountant can cost billions of dollars, but think of the irreparable reputation of disadvantageous position that Cayman would be put in," he said.

"There is an economic impact to a business but there is a wider economic impact to Cayman as a jurisdiction to conduct business."

The Cayman Islands must be competitive with other world players or it will lose the competitive advantage, he said.

"The services that we provide are being provided by other jurisdictions, if they come to you and they cannot get this service they will go to some place else so we will lose our competitive advantage," he added.

He said the company did not want to spend $8 million or $10 million on a cable system but it would meet the demand of its consumers.

"If that's what our customers are demanding and we're not able to get cost effective solutions from the client, incumbent provider Cable & Wireless, we will go out and get it," he said.

TeleCayman said it is in discussion with other local and international companies on setting up a new cable system, which would be more affordable to its clients as a full service provider.

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