The Tribune

Cable Bahamas yesterday said it was turning its focus to customer billing adjustments, having achieved full network restoration on New Providence.

John Gomez, the BISX-listed communications provider’s chief operating officer, said in a statement that while its New Providence network was fully operational, it was still dealing with individual customers’ loss of connectivity post-Hurricane Matthew.

“Our teams have been working non-stop for the last 22 days, and we have seen tremendous progress from their efforts,” Mr Gomez said. “Today, all areas in New Providence have the Cable Bahamas network that supplies Internet, TV and phone services; 100 per cent active.

“We are focusing on the issues impacting individual customer premises, as wiring to homes and businesses were subjected to 150 mile per hour winds, leaving loose connections on distribution poles throughout the capital.”

Cable Bahamas had engaged support from restoration crews employed by its Florida affiliates, supplementing the efforts of local teams to get every customer back to full service. These additional teams are being deployed on New Providence, Andros and Grand Bahama

“This is a massive undertaking,” Mr Gomez explained, “but it is not something we are unprepared for. Our restoration teams now have the additional support of our systems from Summit Broadband, the Cable Bahamas subsidiary in Florida. This means that we can get even more done in a shorter period of time.”

Mr Gomez said the collaborative effort between Bahamian and US-based crews works to the advantage of every residential and business customer, and is a strategic advantage that the company is using to the fullest extent on Grand Bahama.

Cable Bahamas’ vice-president of marketing, David Burrows, said the company would adjust November’s bills to reflect how long individual customers were without services post-Matthew.

“Our first focus is on restoring service, and almost every one of our personnel have contributed to getting to where we are today,” Mr Burrows said.

“Next, we know customers want to know how any interruption impacts their billing, and this is something we take very seriously.

“While thousands of customers continued to receive uninterrupted service over the last few weeks, many were without service, so we are assessing what adjustments need to be made to those accounts.Those adjustments will be reflected on November statements for all of those that were affected.”