TELECOMMUNICATIONS giant Flow Jamaica says its team has already started to fix cables affected by theft and vandalism which occurred in recent weeks.

In a response to questions from the Jamaica Observer, the company said it was unable to provide a specific timeline for addressing the issue, but said its teams were doing a restoration with overbuild fibre-to-the-home, which in most cases takes longer than a copper restoration.

According to Flow, approximately US$2 million is required to to replace stolen and vandalised infrastructure annually.

“Flow continues to invest heavily to restore services to affected residential and business customers, dealing with both increased replacement and restoration costs. The company has had to redirect funds to the restoration efforts as well as a costly asset protection programme. It should be noted that redirecting funds has limited the company’s ability to further deploy services to sections of the island that have no access to broadband and online services. It has also reduced the investments available for upgrading the company’s networks,” said Flow.

Flow Jamaica explained that between January and July, a total of 180 incidents of theft and vandalism were reported with restoration costs amounting to just under US$400,000.

The areas mainly impacted by the issue include sections of St Catherine, rural St Andrew, St Ann and St Mary, where copper and fibre cables, as well as batteries and other equipment to power cell and MSAN (Multi-Service Access Node) sites and generators were vandalised and stolen.

“Sadly, this is a major challenge, dating back at least seven years. Since the start of 2021, we have seen an uptick in the number of incidents. It should be noted that the incidents have continued despite curfew measures instituted due to the novel coronavirus pandemic,” said the telecoms provider, noting that there were more than 600 incidents resulting in approximately US$2 million in restoration costs last year.

Hundreds of thousands of students have resumed classes on September 6 for the start of the new school year, where the online modality is still facilitated. However, many of students have been robbed of Internet connectivity due to the theft of copper cable

Flow explained that the absence of Internet connectivity is a major concern, which also affects employees who are working from home.

“Vandals must understand that their actions affect everyone within the area in which the crime is committed including their families and friends.The cumulative incidents have significantly impacted the quality of service delivered to customers. Residents have been left with no access to contact emergency services, no service for personal entertainment, education and research. They are also unable to communicate with loved ones and many communities are left at a higher risk for criminal activity. In the commercial space, there is no service to power e-commerce and online services. Businesses are unable to communicate with customers as many companies are left with no access to power their transactions,” said Flow.

At a Jamaica Observer Business Forum in May, Flow Country Manager Stephen Price indicated that deliberate damage to telecommunication apparatus should be classified as domestic terrorism as more Jamaicans depend on telecommunication options such as mobile and broadband.

The public, meanwhile, has been asked to report any suspicious activity to the police or its special hotline for acts of theft and vandalism.