The Tribune

By JADE RUSSELL

Tribune Staff Reporter

jrussell@tribunemedia.net

WEEKS of rolling telecommunications outages on Cat Island have cut residents off from banks, businesses and family, leaving people unable to make phone calls, access the internet or withdraw their own money, and fuelling anger over being billed for services they say barely work.

Prime Minister Philip Davis said yesterday that he has been complaining directly to BTC and ALIV about the persistent disruptions, which residents say have plagued the island for months and most recently resurfaced last Friday.

Interviews with Cat Island residents painted a picture of daily life repeatedly grinding to a halt, as phone and internet failures ripple through government offices, shops and the island’s lone bank, the Bank of The Bahamas. With electronic systems down, residents said they were often unable to deposit or withdraw funds, leaving some without access to cash for basic needs.

Services were restored on Wednesday, but many residents said the relief felt fragile, based on a pattern of outages that can last weeks at a time. Some said they have turned to Starlink as a workaround, abandoning local providers they no longer trust.

Marina Wilson, 62, of Stevenson, said she receives little or no BTC service at her home despite continuing to receive monthly bills.

“When the bill come, it come the same big bill you still have to pay,” she complained.

Ms Wilson said the outages left her family in New Providence unable to contact her for weeks, prompting fears about her safety. She said the banking disruption left her unable to buy food. “I couldn't get grocery. I had to go to social services,” she said.

Stacey Strachan of Bennett’s Harbour said her life has been effectively on hold for weeks and criticised BTC for having only one technician stationed on the island, a level of staffing she said is plainly inadequate given the frequency of outages.

BTC’s head of Family Island technical operations, Dominic Petty, said the most recent outage affected southern Cat Island and was caused by a transport-related network disruption. He said the interruption lasted longer than expected as teams worked to stabilise service.

Mr Petty said BTC crews are now on the ground strengthening the network, including burying cables rather than running them overhead to improve resilience. He said the company also plans to upgrade the fixed network to bring service closer to the standard in New Providence and Grand Bahama, and confirmed that while one technician is currently based on Cat Island, additional staff are expected.

He said customers may be eligible for compensation under BTC’s service policies when outages occur.

In a statement, ALIV said it acknowledged the prime minister’s comments and the frustration of Cat Island residents, but said the disruptions were linked to interconnection dependencies outside its direct control. The company said it is working with partners including BTC, Bahamas Power and Light and URCA to resolve the issues and remains committed to providing a quality customer experience.