KINGSTON, Jamaica — Network vandalism and theft are costing Jamaica millions of dollars each year and threatening national resilience, according to telecommunications provider Flow, which renewed calls for stronger penalties and greater public support to combat the issue.

Speaking during an Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR) webinar, titled ‘Utilities Network Vandalism and Theft: The Real Cost’, on Friday, Senior Manager for Government and Regulatory Affairs at Flow, Charles Douglas said the company remained committed to investing in and expanding Jamaica’s telecommunications infrastructure despite ongoing challenges.

Douglas said utilities across sectors, including telecommunications, electricity and water, play a key part in daily life and that disruptions have far-reaching consequences.

“Utilities… really underpins daily life and telecom failure ripple across the entire society and it has implications for national resilience. We have a lot of investment in the country,” he said.

However, he noted that these networks are frequently compromised by deliberate acts of vandalism and sabotage.

“People steal batteries, they steal generators, they steal fuel, there was theft of copper in the past… now we have fibre cuts,” Douglas said, adding that carelessness and accidents involving high vehicles also contribute to outages.

Douglas said repeated vandalism in some communities has made repairs financially straining, resulting in prolonged service disruptions.

He explained that outages affect schools and hospitals and affect public confidence in the company.

“Millions of US dollars are spent annually trying to alleviate this problem and it remains a challenge,” he said.

Douglas added that vandalism increases the cost of doing business and threatens investor confidence in Jamaica.

Flow, he said, has taken several steps to protect its network.

“We have tried to harden the network, we try to put in monitoring systems, law enforcement coordination. We have teams that just work with law enforcement but still there is a low prosecution rate,” he said.

Despite this, Douglas said the company would continue its efforts and urged greater public involvement.

“We can’t be discouraged by this… we need the public support to mobilise to say that this is unacceptable, to share information when it becomes known to them who are some of the perpetrators of these crimes,” he said.

He said Flow has worked with the Government to strengthen legislation, including amendments to the Telecommunications Act to increase fines to up to $5 million or include imprisonment, as well as updates to the Malicious Injuries to Property Act to make penalties more stringent.

Douglas also said the company plans to engage more closely with the judiciary to outline the wider implications of vandalism.

“It’s all the unseen costs that flow from it which really hampers the country and hinders the digital transformation and the benefits… that we want to accrue to the country,” he said.

Douglas called for stronger penalties and a collective national effort to address utility network vandalism and theft.