GO frustrated after contractor incident leaves more than 5,000 customers disconnected

Service provider GO has expressed frustration at “yet another” major fault caused by third-party contractors.

On Tuesday, an unrelated third-party contractor cut through three GO underground cables in Żejtun, leaving a number of localities disconnected from critical telecommunications services, namely broadband, TV, Fixed Telephony and in some areas, even mobile.

More than 5,000 customers were left disconnected.

GO said that technical teams were dispatched onsite to start carrying out repairs.

“Repairs went on throughout the rest of the day and night as long stretches of damaged cable had to be replaced which further complicated the repair process,” a statement read.

Services were restored at around 1:30 am.

Reacting to the incident, GO Chief Service Operations Officer Ayrton Caruana expressed his frustration, stating the man power and costs could be directed towards improving the service, rather than fixing it.

“These incidents also prove complicated from a technical perspective because first we would need to assess the damage, then, determine what services are impacted and where, and devise a plan of action to restore services in the most efficient and responsible manner,” he said.

He also said that due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, no shortcuts can be taken with regards to the complexity of the job.

“Given the complexity of the tasks involved, the protection of the Health and Safety of our employees as well as the adverse conditions that our people have to work in during such accidents there are no shortcuts we can take,” he said.