Debt of gratitude owed to Agard for her service

THE EDITOR: Allow me to comment on the hacking of TSTT and the removal of its CEO, Lisa Agard. During the early 21st century, the telecommunications market was opened up, giving rise to much welcomed competition. TSTT could then fulfil its mission statement to be the service provider of choice.

Having operated in a monopoly for its entire existence, TSTT was not prepared for competition, but the new management team under Carlos Espinal hit the ground running, thereby preventing its demise. For that he and his team, which included Agard, were forced out and TSTT returned to business as usual.

The changes that were needed were never implemented, the migration of the outside plant from copper to fibre was delayed and the competition exploited this to their financial advantage. When TSTT eventually migrated around 2015, the cost was prohibitive and it was the case of too little too late.

Following alleged missteps in upper management, Agard was appointed CEO. She and her team proceeded to modernise the company by focusing on the upper layers of the OSI model, which had delivered financial success to software giants Google, Microsoft and Facebook. TSTT was now on the path to making mega profits and this may be the problem as the sleeping giant is awakened.

In this environment, customer confidence is critical. Any public utterance that erodes this confidence must be avoided. The Pentagon and several US agencies were hacked and I am sure they had firewalls and other software applications to protect them.

Updating our laws as someone suggested is not a deterrent as the actors operate beyond their jurisdiction. Firing the CEO is not a solution or else you would be replacing him or her with alarming frequency. Finding the breach and closing it is the solution.

We owe a debt of gratitude to Lisa Agard for her service to this country. TSTT is owned by our people and the profits are used to pay for social services including CDAP and the citizens’ grant. She was not only the first woman CEO, but one of the few who was not self-serving and those who were calling for her head, especially politicians, should now bow theirs in collective shame.

Not that long ago, half a billion dollars in cellphones vanished without a trace, which head rolled then?

KEITH GONZALES

TSTT retiree