What's the plan when TT goes offline

Minister of Public Administration and Digital Transformation Allyson West on Tuesday in the Senate described this week’s crippling internet outage as “a bit of Murphy’s Law.” In other words, anything that can go wrong will go wrong.

But Ms West nonetheless gave three reasons why things did go as they did.

Replying to urgent questions from Independent Senator Paul Richards, she said the first issue was an initial breakage in Antigua. Secondly, the backup or redundancy in Curacao had gone haywire. Thirdly, she said covid19 caused a delay in efforts to address the initial problem.

The minister said the Telecommunications Authority (TATT) intends to hold discussions and meetings with service providers.

None of this suggests there are adequate measures in place to avoid a recurrence.

In fact, Monday’s failure underlines just how vulnerable we are, especially in this new normal when life has migrated online.

It is not possible to prepare for every single situation. But a system with just one backup is not ideal, given the social and economic costs of disruption. Productivity has already taken a hit from covid19. This is not helped by having the risk of a crippling internet outage hanging over us every day like the Sword of Damocles.

Perhaps a more detailed explanation in another forum – Ms West only had a few minutes to reply to Mr Richards' urgent questions in the Senate – may shed better light on the facts and also highlight the robust systems that might already be in place. But certainly the minister’s invocation of Murphy’s Law suggests the State has to some extent thrown its hands in the air. That's unfortunate.

There are a lot of lingering questions about the need for not only more hardy systems but also market liberalisation and deepening of competition.

It should not be forgotten Monday’s incident was regional. Damage to undersea cables also affected six Eastern Caribbean nations, disrupting mobile and broadband internet services as well as online classes. University campuses throughout the region had to reschedule exams.

Another aspect of Monday’s event that has adverse implications for the commercial environment was the way rumours quickly spread. In the melee there was some degree of panic triggered by false reports that suggested an underwater volcano’s activity was to blame.

The jumpiness belies a lack of confidence as well as the perception of some that our regional systems are not working as they should. That does not augur well if we are concerned with creating a climate of stability within which to revitalise our regional trade links.

The vulnerabilities are all the more evident when considering how this country and the region are pushing for universal virtual platforms for governance, education and trade services. Ms West’s own appointment to a portfolio which includes technology is a symbol of this.

With the region being particularly vulnerable to natural disasters, it must also be asked: What if this had disrupted emergency services? Or banking services? We need better contingency measures to come online. And fast.