The Tribune

The Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) has blamed sabotage for causing its mobile and fixed-line subscribers in North Eleuthera to lose communications services for two days last week.

The carrier, in a statement, said customers in Lower Bogue, Harbour Island, Russell Island, Bluff Settlement and North Eleuthera Airport were all affected, including residential customers; the police station; clinic; schools; and commercial businesses.

Andre Foster, BTC's head of operations, said: “BTC has scores of contractual arrangements with property owners in every single island across the country. For decades, BTC’s telecommunications equipment was secured on property north of the Glass Window Bridge. In recent years, we have had challenges with the use of the property, and we’ve engaged in a process to bring swift resolution to the matter.

"BTC maintains its right to repair damaged equipment and will not tolerate any acts of sabotage. The unfortunate events that occurred over the three days, which led to massive outages for the community, is beyond the control of BTC.

"However, we are committed to restoring services in the shortest possible timeframe. Additionally, our local technical teams are on standby to quickly restore services to North Eleutherans. BTC continues to work with all stakeholders, cognisant of the inconvenience being experienced by our customers. We are working diligently to restore services as soon as possible.”