POND ISLAND--TelEm Group’s fixed Internet and mobile Internet services were interrupted from around 3:00pm Tuesday by a loss in bandwidth capacity between St. Maarten and the connecting service provider in Miami, Florida, the company said in a statement.
Banks and other businesses that use automated teller machines (ATMs) and conduct their business with the use of online services such as credit card clearance were amongst those affected by the interruption in service. Customers generally will also experience different issues including slow connections and interruptions when using fixed and mobile data.
TelEm Group’s Chief Technical Officer (CTO) Eldert Louisa said that around 5:30pm Tuesday the exact cause of the problem was unknown, but the company’s technicians and engineers had been working closely with their counterparts in Miami and throughout the link path of the service, to resolve the problem as quickly as possible.
At approximately 7:00pm Tuesday the CTO said the problem was identified as a cable breakage between Jacksonville, Florida, and Miami. He said the cable owner is already working on repairs to stabilise connections.
The alarm was raised and personnel immediately mobilised to troubleshoot and come up with some answers once they had been alerted. “We are working very hard to have the systems stabilised with the assistance of our service providers and other carrier partners who have been affected,” said Louisa, who apologised to TelEm Group customers for the interruption in service that was “beyond the company’s control.”
