Minister Glen Phillip

Mr. Phillip confirmed the meeting after The Observer observed LIME St. Kitts-Nevis Country Manager David Lake leading a group of officials out of Government Headquarters on Wednesday. Speaking with this newspaper, Phillip said there had indeed been a meeting with LIME officials and their discussions related to recent subscriber concerns about the telecom company’s quality of service.
“There has been a concern coming through my Ministry from LIME subscribers that the service over the past couple of months has not been adequate in certain areas and so we met with LIME this morning to see how we can resolve these issues,” he said, noting that concerns had also come through the local National Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (NTRC).

Phillip said LIME blamed over saturation of its network for recent service issues which included dropped calls, poor reception and inability to ‘dial out’. He said LIME had given its assurance that certain measures were being put into place to solve the problems in the near future.

“What was explained to me is that the rate at which telecommunication services, especially mobile services, have been growing the network in place at this time has been saturated in terms of users and so in certain areas you have calls dropping out,” he said..”However, I was assured by LIME that as interim measure they are installing two additional towers which would ease congestion.”

The Telecoms Minister said subscribers had expressed dissatisfaction with “a lack of explanation” from the phone company but he was optimistic that they would soon get good news regarding improved service.

“The quality of service was a concern of ours and the explanation they gave seemed warranted so we’ll wait and see what happens,” he said.

“[Speaking to the public] is something we have suggested they do and they are meeting with the NTRC this afternoon (Wednesday) and perhaps together they will come up with a plan of how they can respond to the public.”

Consumers can expect the upgrade to be completed by July, Phillip declared., adding that the bulk of the work would be completed by November 2011. A plan was in place to “rip out the entire thing and upgrade the entire network” not just in St. Kitts but Caribbean-wide, Phillip indicated. The upgrade would cost LIME more than US $50 million.

According to Phillip, LIME’s network problems had implications for other telecommunications service providers where customers experience difficulty calling “cross network”.

“I think because of the saturation it’s sometimes difficult for people to even connect in terms of across providers,’ he added. “They are aware of it and it could affect them if customers opt to leave LIME. I think it’s in LIME’s best interest to really step up to the plate and resolve this issue.”

In April the NTRC launched an investigation into the quality of service standards being offered to customers by telecommunications providers in St. Kitts and Nevis. While it was not stated what had prompted the investigation, the NTRC sought the public’s assistance by inviting comments from the general public on their experiences with the quality of service provided by telecommunications providers. This includes providers of public fixed and mobile telecommunication services and internet services.

The NTRC ensures that telecoms companies comply with industry regulations and that the quality of the service provided meets prescribed standards. Providers are evaluated on compliance in relation to waiting time for connection of service, clearing reported and unreported faults, loss of service, call completion success rate for local and international calls during peak period, billing accuracy, advanced notice of planned disruption, redress of complaints and other areas.

Telecommunications providers failing to comply with the regulations, submit requested documentation to the NTRC, or that submit or publish false or misleading information relating to quality of service, or obstruct or prevent an NTRC investigation could have their licenses suspended.