The Tribune

By KHRISNA VIRGIL

kvirgil@tribunemedia.net

INTERRUPTIONS in cell phone service could last throughout July as BTC completes this phase of its upgrades, vice president of brand and communications Marlon Johnson said yesterday.

While he did not give a specific date, Mr Johnson said the upgrades are slated for completion this summer.

Mr Johnson gave the update during a press conference at the company's main office on John F Kennedy Drive.

He said: "Our assurance is that we are working through some key elements throughout June. By the time we get into July, all of our customers will see a lot of the chronic issues - the lost and delayed texts, the challenges sometimes to access your data plans, and the inconsistency with the data service - (fixed).

"A lot of these unfortunate issues came as a result of us going through this hard part," Mr Johnson said.

The final push to replace outdated equipment is part of BTC's $44 million investment in new 2G and 4G systems.

"One of the things that is important to emphasise is that we are not only putting out a new 4G network, but we are actually putting in a new 2G network because 70 per cent of our calls today are still going on our 10-year-old 2G network that is approaching obsolescence," Mr Johnson said.

"So what we have already started in Bimini and in some of the outlying areas in New Providence is a total rip and replace of the 2G network and installing a brand new one."

This weekend, BTC also completed the installation of a new prepaid platform, which may have been the cause of wide spread service disruptions.

"This past weekend, we swapped out the heart of the prepaid platform, the billing system and the texting platform that both prepaid customers and post paid customers utilise," Mr Johnson said.

When asked if the company was considering compensating customers for the disruptions in their service, Mr Johnson said BTC intends to run a series of promotions to say the company understands it has created some frustrating experiences in recent times.