THE cost and loss from the communication blackout that affected many families and businesses in the three provinces of Choiseul, Malaita and Western are huge.
Hundreds have been disconnected for some days when the submarine undersea fibre optic cable was damaged by a single fishing vessel last week Wednesday – 10th May.
Since then, many businesses in the three provinces that depend on communication links to do business and financial transactions have been cut off from the rest of the world for some six days.
Most of them depend on the mobile phone and internet services offered by Bemobile and Our Telekom.
BSP, the main financial provider located in the three provinces, has been hugely impacted as it could not provide the much-needed services to its customers for over three days.
Medical services were also hugely impacted because some of the nurses could not convey information about emergency cases from their clinics.
Families and loved ones have been disconnected for days, leaving everyone confused and frustrated.
Some programmes planned for that period have been disrupted as well.
In Western Province, plans to livestream football matches from the Western Women’s Cup was not possible.
Members of the public who wanted to contact the hospital and the police could not do so because every phone line went dead for days.
Some businesses were unable to make financial transactions for their ordered cargo supplies.
Others could not travel because they could not contact the airlines to confirm their bookings.
Some families and businesses in Honiara who wanted to send goods and cargoes to these three provinces have been forced to delay their plans because they could not contact their loved ones and those at the receiving end.
Western Province is a busy tourism destination and the blackout has affected the movement of guests, hotel bookings and the airline services.
Most of the businesses, organisations and government ministries were forced to use satellite phones instead at an added cost.
Those who do online studies and researches were also affected and remain so up until now because internet services are still down.
Some students located in some of the boarding schools in the outer islands could not contact their parents and families.
There were some deaths in the past days in some rural communities and many families could not convey the sad news to their loved ones.
Many were forced to travel by foot, paddled in dugout canoes and outboard motor to pass the sad news which cost them time and money.
Months ago, whenever a death or unfortunate incident occurs in a village, many would just make a call from their comfort of their home to pass on the message to their loved ones.
With the disrupted telecommunication situation, many in the rural communities were forced to write notes and letters to their family members and loved one to convey a message.
Although phone lines are back in operation, both the 3G and 4G are still down and this is a setback for many.
The past week and days have been frustrating and disappointing for many people and businesses. For businesses, it means a loss of income.
There are businesses and organisations that depend on the internet to do work but when the network is down, it affects their activities.
Some customers are undoubtedly calling for compensation for this big loss. And it is something for those responsible to deal with now.
This recent incident should also be a learning experience for everyone.
