Party for Progress member of Parliament submitted questions last Thursday,
27 June 2024, to the Minister of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Telecommunications & Traffic, Mrs.
Grisha Heyliger-Marten regarding the status of the country’s telecommunications network in
light of the current loadshedding actions being taken by NV GEBE as a response to decreased
energy production impacting the company.
“Power outages and surges impact every system that relies on electricity,” Gumbs stated in a
media release. “The Telem and Flow networks are no exception. I am concerned about the
impact that these last eight months of power outages and, more recently, heavy loadshedding
have had on the site generators, the sites themselves and the overall mobile and broadband
infrastructure of each provider.”
Gumbs noted that she had already seen a slow-down with mobile data as the outages became
more frequent, with the Flow LTE network taking more than five minutes to reboot once the
power had been shut off. In the last week, she has received complaints from TelCell customers
who cannot make or sustain calls on their mobile phone. This doesn’t surprise Gumbs, as she
has warned in Parliament about the risk of connected systems failing together.
“In my Sunday livestream, I speak about cascading issues happening as a result of GEBE’s
power outages,” Gumbs continued. “Just as our home appliances, such as fridges, freezers,
TVs, game consoles etc are at risk of damage due to power outages and surges, the same is
true of our telecommunication networks and the equipment needed to power them. The
generators meant to power that infrastructure are also at risk, as they’re normally meant for
emergency situations like a hurricane or the odd power failure here and there. Structural power
failures are unsustainable for even the most sophisticated network protections.”
In her questions, Gumbs asked Minister Heyliger-Marten to determine and share the status of
both Telem and Flow’s mobile and broadband networks, with special attention to their carrying
capacity and their overall health, considering GEBE’s fluctuating electricity services. She asked
Heyliger-Marten if there has been any damage noted by either company regarding their network
equipment or damage to the generator sources at various network sites.
“I also asked the Minister what the preparedness levels of both companies’ networks are as we
race towards the peak of the Atlantic hurricane season,” Gumbs shared. “After Hurricane Irma,
and indeed after any weather event, there’s also some infrastructure sharing that goes on, all of
which puts a strain on the network that is overburdened at the time. But with both networks still
recovering from Irma and Maria and the impact of failures of international infrastructure such as
SMPR-1, we have a unique scenario of fragile networks operating in the middle of a serious
energy crisis. That’s a risk that the country cannot bear right now.”
MP Melissa Gumbs Questions MinTEATT on Telecommunications Network Status in GEBE Crisis
