By KHRISNA VIRGIL
Tribune Staff Reporter
kvirgil@tribunemedia.net
POLICE officials yesterday placed the blame for a malfunction of the 919 emergency number on the Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC).
Although the system has had issues in the past, Police Superintendent Stephen Dean said whenever there are glitches, the problem lies with the telephone company.
The Royal Bahamas Police Force on Thursday reported that the 919 number was malfunctioning and asked members of the public who needed police assistance or an ambulance to call alternative numbers. The system was restored yesterday.
The last time the emergency numbers failed to work was in June.
A few months prior, in January, concerned citizens complained to The Tribune that calls to emergency services had gone unanswered.
At the time two unrelated persons said they tried dialing both 911 and 919, but the lines just rang and rang for several minutes.
Despite calling each number more than five times, neither ever got through to emergency service personnel.
Comments
nationbuilder 11 years, 7 months ago
Does Stephen Dean know the meaning of "telling the truth"? Every time this man opens his mouth, something contrary to the truth comes out, whether it is with Urban Renewal, an active crime investigation or other incidents. This man is a faithful stranger to the truth. All along, officers who outrank him said the problem was not a BTC problem, now here he comes saying the exact opposite of what his superiors have told the public. Next time he stands in front a microphone, he should just say PLP all the Way, and be done with it.
John 11 years, 7 months ago
Cable and Wireess is proving over and again that this company is not good for the Bahamas. In a short few months C&W has raped BTC of its cash, gotten rid of most of its qualified staff and and put Bahamians to work for wages below the minimum wage. The phone system is in shambles and no one in government seems to have the intestinal fortitude to tell C&W to straighten up or face the consequences. Despite braggng and boasting about introducing 4G service to this country this system is unreliable and not working much of the time. Many of the family islands lack a reliabe basic telepone service, much less 4G and, in some islands, people have to walk distances to get cell signals and sometimes it is easier to drive to another settlement than it is to make a phone call. Call Eleuthera if you dont beleive me. But the most disgraeful and atrocious act C&W has done so far is to reduce the margins on its phone card and Top up products to as low as 4%. Yes some vedors are making only 20 cents when they sell a 5.00 phone card and 5 cents profit (profit?) when they do a $1.00 top up. Out of thi small margin they are expected to pay for the equipment they use, cover overhead including pay for internet service and electricity. Just to make minimum wage of $30.00 per day a Phone card vendor must sell at least 150 (YES ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY) $5.00 phone cards per day (based on a 5 day work week) and this only happens if he/she doesnt get robbed, get counterfeit notes, misplace any of his/her phone cards or face any other eventuaity. While the average profit margin on retail products is between 20 and 50%, even in BTC's own stores,C&W have Bahamians working for 4% !! How shameful!!! They couldnt even get a loan from the bank at 4%! Many senior managers (of those that are left) in BTC do not agree with what Cable and Wireless is doing to Bahamians and the Bahamas Telecommunications Company, but they are afraid to speak out for fear of losing their jobs. So Its all 'yes sir massa' in the ompany these days. Even the big bad BCPOU has lost its tongue on this matter! The only positive thing C&W has done since coming to the Bahamas is improve their profits to their shareholders and despite this being done at the expense of the Bahamian people, 51% of these profits now leave the country. Government gets th other 49 percent. Are we gonna wait until we go back to trying to communicate thru two soda cans attached to a string before we stop C&W from raping the Bahamian people and putting them to work for slave wages?
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