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PTI cable set on fire
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Posted on Nov 14 2006
An unidentified person or persons burned a telephone equipment of Pacific Telecom Inc. in Koblerville on Monday, causing a one-day phone outage in the area.
Kathryn Barry, PTI regional marketing manager, disclosed to Saipan Tribune yesterday that the phone outage affected the Koberville Elementary School, Coral Ocean Point, businesses and some residential houses in Koblerville.
Barry said they received a call about the burned telephone cable link—called a pedestal—Monday morning, but they assumed it happened Sunday night.
Barry said the copper wires in the pedestal were not stolen.
She said PTI immediately conducted repairs as soon as they got the call.
“Everything is back on today. So the phone outage was just for one day,” the manager said.
The damage to property was estimated at over $2,000.
It was the fourth time that PTI’s cabling had either been stolen or damaged in the past few months.
“Obviously the reason why this is a concern to us is because without phone service you don’t have the ability to call 911 in the event of an emergency. It’s just we just really want this to stop before someone’s life is put in danger,” Barry said.
She added that PTI is offering another $1,000 cash reward on top of the Crime Stoppers Program’s offer of up to $1,000 reward for information leading to an arrest of the perpetrators.
In September, PTI’s cabling was stolen from two locations in Kagman and Santa Lourdes.
On Oct. 27, there was an attempt to steal live telephone cabling in Kagman. The cutting of the cables disrupted phone services to businesses and homes in the area.
The cost of PTI’s repairs was $5,000.
Velma Palacios, head of PTI’s network operations, earlier warned these criminals that theft or resale of telephone wiring and equipment is a federal crime and that the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Public Safety, and PTI “are taking this very seriously.”
