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FLOW DIGICEL spaghetti network an eyesore

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The focus post Hurricane Beryl is on the fisherfolk as it should be. It is an indigenous industry where a majority are blue collar folk, although the industry has been infiltrated by a few big players.

A sub story coming of the damage caused by Hurricane Beryl that has gained little to zero traction is the messy, tangled, hanging wires from poles belonging to FLOW and DIGICEL. These two telcos unhesitatingly increase mobile rates always ignoring cries from consumers. The question has to be asked – who is monitoring the quality of work by FLOW and DIGICEL? We know for whatever reason the regulator does not have a say in pricing of mobile products.

Woe betide the cry of the consumer.

The above sights are more common post Hurricane Beryl

The Fair Trading Commission (FTC) is the body charged with regulating utilities in Barbados at the same time safeguarding the interest of the consumer. Based on recent decisions by EMERA’s BL&P and SOL the FTC appears to be struggling with efficiently regulating utilities in Barbados. Even the omnipresent Prime Minister seems helpless to make changes to the law to improve regulating utilities.

As always the consumer is left holding the shitty end of the stick.

Suffice it to say, the process needs deconstruction again, and if [it] continues to be the subject of delay, the only losers will be the country and people of Barbados….We don’t produce the materials necessary to participate in most of this. But having said that, we believe we can still set the ambitious targets and we intend to meet our policy objectives. We have to create space to encourage investment by foreign service providers because all can’t come from locals.

Prime Minister Mia Mottley is on record as recent as 2023 expressing disgust at the slow process led by the FTC to regulate utilities. Who is the Minister of Government responsible for the FTC anyway? Does this person live and drive around Barbados? Barbados is promoted as an island paradise with scenic landscape; fauna, flora. It would be interesting to ask the newly installed CEO of the Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc Andrea Franklin her views on the spaghetti looking FLOW and DIGICEL network lines upsetting the eyeline as we traverse our highways and byways.

What if Barbados has to withstand a direct hit from a major system, one shudders to imagine the devastation. We need to hear the Minister responsible and the CEO of the FTC on FLOW and DIGICEL’s spaghetti network. What is the action plan to fix it!

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14 responses to “FLOW DIGICEL spaghetti network an eyesore”

  1. FearPlay Avatar
    FearPlay

    While we are at it, has anyone noticed the angles that utility poles are allowed to assume in Barbados? Is that safe? Are they secure and able to withstand storm or hurricane force winds? Is there a standard in Barbados?

    Bing: What is the maximum angle of deviation from the perpendicular allowable for utility poles?

    Answer:The maximum allowable angle of deviation from the perpendicular for utility poles can vary depending on the standards and regulations in place. Generally, utility poles should not deviate more than 2 degrees from the vertical1. This ensures the stability and safety of the poles, especially under various load conditions such as wind and the weight of the cables.
    Is there a specific project or situation you’re working on that involves utility poles?

  2. David Avatar
    David

    @FearPlay

    A fair observation.

    Only this weekend a pole was highlighted in a district held up by its wires. We must do better.

  3. Sargeant Avatar
    Sargeant

    @Fearplay
    Couldn’t agree with you more

    These poles would add to the havoc that a direct hit by a hurricane could cost. Can you imagine emergency vehicles trying to navigate the roads with poles strewn all over the road?

    Lets hope the bajan god is still looking after us.

  4. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    A freaking mess in the sky, waiting to fall on us.

  5. The OG Avatar
    The OG

    One witty comment. You decide…
    “In a place that is totally crooked, some expects poles/polls to be straight”.
    Good advice is below
    –xxx-

    Good morning Barbados,
    I share the concern of the many who are concerned about our preparedness for the next hurricane. It is as if the side blow by Beryl made us aware that we are not as prepared as we thought. It is up to Joe Average to prepare his home and his family for the possibility of what could happen
    Get yourself a little hurricane preparedness kit.
    Stock up on separate supplies for the hurricane now so as to avoid the rush and the shortages that occur during bouts of panic buying. Here is a link that may be helpful

    https://www.noaa.gov/prepare-before-hurricane-season

  6. Chris Halsall Avatar
    Chris Halsall

    @BU.Family…

    I have often argued that the “Fair Trading Commission” (FTC) (AKA “Favouring the Company” AKA “Fsck (a Unix term) The Consumer”) was not “Fit for purpose”.

    Roosevelt King and I presented strong documentation that they didn’t even understand the concept of the price cap regulation.

    Some might remember that I argued during a Rate Hearing that the Poles should be taken seriously. This was belittled.

    To put this out there, SpaceX’s Starlink is available here in Barbados for $110 (Barbados) a month.

    I have it at my home.

    Please forgive me if I come across as a little angry. But, come on!

    Just get the job done!

  7. David Avatar
    David

    @Chris

    Can you post a link or send document re: your recommendation for pole management?

  8. Chris Halsall Avatar
    Chris Halsall

    @BU.David… This was years ago.

    The FTC “recorded” the hearings. I will try to find the “recordings” documenting all of this.

  9. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    I cannot stomach knowingly putting money in Elon Musk’s pockets, though he probably is no worse than the rest of them.

  10. Pachamama Avatar
    Pachamama

    Like the boiling frog, Bajans like Europeans and Americans, will not arise to observe their states of increasing levels of underdevelopment until totally cooked.

    Development no longer means wires strewn all over the place. Like 100 year old water pipes, the seemingly unsolvable sewage problem and other infrastructures will never get any better by a reliance on an FTC and the monopolist whose sole objectives are rent seeking, shareholder value, etc

    These lines needed burying a long time ago?

  11. David Avatar
    David

    The blogmaster had reason to have a look at the Telecommunication Unit website and was surprised to read the stale dated information. Maybe there is a new link.

    https://www.telecoms.gov.bb/index5975.html?option=com_content&view=article&id=8&Itemid=110

  12. David Avatar
    David

    Does anyone besides the blogmaster see the folly in FLOW advertising ‘Bundles’ with 177 channels, faster download speeds, thousand of free talk time minutes costing hundreds of dollars when they know the average household prefers these days to access streams using firestick and other devices?

  13. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    and in Ontario, Canada….

    ” We have great news! Your internet download speed is now up to 300 Mbps on your current package, at no additional cost.

    This complimentary upgrade is part of our commitment to enhancing your experience, with no action required on your part.

    Thank you for choosing Rogers. “

  14. David Avatar
    David

    POWER PLAY

    BL&P and FTC to face off in court over rate decision

    By Shawn Cumberbatch

    shawncumberbatch@nationnews.com

    Barbados Light & Power Company Limited (BL& P) and the Fair Trading Commission (FTC) are set to face off in court in December as the electricity provider seeks to overturn its regulator’s rate increase application decisions.

    However, before the full trial starts in the High Court, the two entities are battling over a BL& P bid to file fresh evidence related to $19 million in accumulated deferred income tax (ADIT) it gained after Government reformed corporate income tax in December 2018.

    Like the FTC, intervenors in the process, attorney Senator Tricia Watson, Ricky Went and the Barbados Association of Retired Persons (BARP) have all made submissions to the court opposing BL& P’s bid to introduce new evidence.

    The matter is being heard by Justice Barry Carrington.

    Following requests for an extension to file submissions in the appeal, the parties appeared again before Justice Carrington on July 9 and arrived at mutually convenient dates for all documents to be filed.

    By order, pre-trial review will be on September 25, after which the trial is set down for hearing on December 3 and 4. Parties involved expect the court could give a decision on BL& P’s request to add new evidence by pre-trial review.

    In an affidavit dated June 26, BL& P managing director Roger Blackman said pursuant to the court’s June 12 order, the company “was granted leave to file an application for leave to file fresh evidence” and submitted that it wished to tender two letters, dated January 30, 2019, and April 5, 2019, as fresh evidence in the appeal.

    “The additional evidence and the said correspondence are particularly relevant to the appellant’s assertion in the appeal that the commission acted in breach of the appellant’s legitimate expectation; and that the commission engaged in prohibited retroactive ratemaking,” Blackman said.

    “Consequently, a review of the appellant’s April 5, 2019 letter and the correspondence on the ADIT gain generally are necessary to enable the court to properly determine the issues raised in this regard in the appeal.”

    The new evidence relates to what BL& P stated was an approximately $19 million re-measurement of its deferred tax liability, as recognised in the fourth quarter of 2018 after Government’s tax reform in December that year reduced the company’s tax rate from 15 per cent to about 2.34 per cent.

    BL& P said it proposed to defer this gain and amortise it to make up any shortfall in the allowed rate of return until base rates are reset. Blackman said in his affidavit that BL& P indicated to the commission that the company’s proposed approach “would result in a fairer view of the return earned in 2018 through to 2020”.

    BL& P is contending that prior to the rate review, it and the FTC “verbally agreed that the ADIT gain would be treated as income for current year (2018) and recorded as such in its regulatory reporting”.

    “It is the appellant’s case that the commission, having agreed that the ADIT gain should be treated as 2018 income, the appellant recorded it in their financial statements accordingly. Having acted on its agreement with the commission, it was not open to the commission to act in breach of the appellant’s legitimate expectation or to retroactively address the ADIT gain in the decisions,” the managing director submitted.

    However, in a July 12 affidavit in response to Blackman, FTC chief executive officer Dr Marsha Atherley-Ikechi said a BL& P December 31, 2018 letter to the commission and the regulator’s response on April 3, 2019, are the only documents necessary for understanding the positions of the two parties on the ADIT gain.

    She said the best evidence available of the representations made would be the oral testimony of the statements made in a teleconference meeting on April 5, 2019, between representatives of the FTC and BL& P, and not the company’s letter of that same date.

    “The [FTC] never agreed that the ADIT gain could be paid to shareholders. There was no request, that I can recall, made during the meeting, for the ADIT gain to be paid to the shareholders or no longer considered in the next rate review. If such a request had been made, it would have been rejected,” Atherley-Ikechi said in her affidavit.

    The FTC is arguing that the additional evidence BL& P wants to introduce “is not necessary to come to the right conclusion or arrive at the right result”.

    Source: Nation

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