“At 8:35 am this morning (yesterday) we lost several fibre
pairs on our underground fibre route from our Caymanas switch building;
however, service was not interrupted as traffic was automatically rerouted to
our backup aerial fibre route. However, 50 minutes later, at approximately 9:25
am, we sustained damage to our backup fibre route as well, which traverses a
completely different path as part of our network resiliency. This resulted in service
interruption to our customers”
Digicel CEO
Barry O'Brien explaining the Data and Voice Service outage on Digicel’s Network
to the Jamaica Observer
On Wednesday January 8th 2014, the unthinkable happened.
Vandals cut both the primary and Backup OC-36 Fiber Optic Cables connected to
Digicel’s Ericsson MSC (Mobile Switching Center) located in the Caymanas
Park area as reported in the article “Double
vandalism cripples Digicel - Reward offered to catch those responsible”,
Published Thursday January 9, 2014, The
Jamaica Gleaner and “Digicel,
Columbus Communications blame vandals for network outage”, published
Thursday, January 09, 2014, The
Jamaica Observer.
Digicel and Columbus Communications, the parent company of
FLOW, have since jointly offered a reward (or bounty?) of JA$1,000,000 for
information leading to the arrest of the Vandals who cut their Fiber Optic
Cables. This is really an attack on National Security of Jamaica, as
Telecommunications Providers carry traffic that makes working in a globalized
environment in real time possible.
I initially thought of Mr. Philpott Martin, the Digicel
Hacker who had hacked Digicel DWS and MINSAT Servers back in 2009 and the DPP
(Director of Public Prosecutions) in early January 2013 as stated in my blog article
entitled “Mr.
Philpott Martin is the DPP and Digicel Hacker - Jamaica Cybercrimes first
Django Unchained makes it clear that Digicel's MINSAT and DWS are hackable”.
If you’re a follower of my writings on the Geezam blog, you’d realize that this is also
the location of Digicel Tier-3 Data Center as pointed out in my Geezam blog article entitled “Digicel’s Cloud
Backup Services – A deep Analysis” and my blog article
entitled “Digicel
Cloud Backup Service and future Cloud-Based Services - V.S Naipaul's A House
for Mr Biswas”. This means access to their Data Center was also affected along
with Voice Traffic to their MSC.
Whoever cut the Cables knew what they were doing. They had
the right equiptment and knew enough about Digicel’s Network to know that the fiber
Optic Cables they were damaging would take down that portion of their Network.
Thus they knew that they had to cut both Primary
(Underground) and Backup (Aerial) Fiber Optic OC-36 Cables be cut, both of
which are Armoured Fiber Optic Cable and aren’t that easy to cut, even by
rodents. Triple Play Provider FLOW wasn’t the intended target; they were
clearly targeting Digicel’s “4G” Mobile and Broadband Network, specifically
their 3.5G Wireless Broadband Network and their WiMaX (IEEE 802.16d) Wireless
Broadband Network.
Digicel spent the better part of Wednesday January 8th
2014 getting that part of their Network back on air. In addition they also gave
Data Rebates to “4G” customers as stated in “Digicel rebates
4G customers after service interruption”, Published Thursday January 9,
2014 12:40 pm, The
Jamaica Gleaner.
Police reasoning
on Vandals spot on - Digicel Cable Vandals were Vybz Kartel lovin’ Fiber Optic
Contractors
So who did it then?
The police theorize that it may have to do with the pending case against Dancehall
Entertainer Vybz Kartel, whose real name is Adidjah Palmer as stated in “Destruction
of fibre optics cable, hotel robbery may be attempts to intimidate witnesses,
police say” published Saturday, January 11, 2014 9:29 AM, The Jamaica Observer. He’s being
jointly charged along with Shawn Campbell
also known as Shawn Storm, Kahira Jones, Shane Williams and Andre St John
for the murder of Clive “Lizard” Williams.
Thus far, for those for those of you who
follow Dancehall and their shenanigans, the evidence seems to be melting away
as his case resumed on Monday January 6th 2014 as stated in “VYBZ KARTEL
TRIAL: Case Resumes In Home Circuit Court Today”, Published Monday January
6, 2014 8:57 am, The Jamaica Gleaner.
Apparently, Telecom Provider Digicel Group Head of Business
Risk, Joseph Simmonds was to testify this week, specifically on Thursday
January 9th 2013 as it relates to the ownership of phones found at
the crime scene that were collected by the Police as stated in “VYBZ KARTEL
TRIAL: Telecoms Expert To Testify Today”, Published Thursday January 9,
2014 8:33 am, The Jamaica Gleaner.
Curiously too, Group Head of Business Risk at Digicel,
Joseph Simmonds testified that none of the 40 phones recovered at the crime
scene belonged to Vybz Kartel or any of the four (4) co-accused as noted in “None
of 40 phone numbers registered to Kartel”, published Friday, January 10,
2014, BY PAUL HENRY Coordinator --
Crime/Court Desk, The Jamaica
Observer.
Thus the Jamaican Police may be right, as this incident of
vandalism seems too coincidental to just be merely disgruntled Fiber Optics
Technicians. Most likely they are Vybz Kartel lovin’ Fiber Optic Contractors.
Still it seems a bit too simple a conclusion. But if it’s
the case, then it’s a testament to the degree to which persons before the Courts
with Cash to spend will go to escape Criminal conviction! Hopefully someone is
caught and convicted, as that would make a great story on my blog!
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