Federal Ramifications Loom for Liberty VI as Bill to Forward Complaints to FCC Passes Senate

Liberty VI could face federal ramifications over shoddy service in the territory, with local lawmakers on Monday voting in favor of a bill which directs the Public Services Commission to file an official complaint on behalf of the territory’s citizens against Liberty Latin America, Liberty Mobile USVI, and Liberty Mobile Puerto Rico with the Federal Communications Commission.

Bill 35-0247 follows a less-than-satisfactory update to legislators in January from the telecommunications provider on the status of the migration process following its changeover from AT&T networks. One day before the hearing, the executive director of the Public Services Commission told the Committee on Government Operations that the PSC was receiving regular complaints about the level of service that customers received from Liberty VI. Problems included dropped calls, delayed text messages, lack of cellular service, system updates, and billing issues.

Liberty VI’s country manager, Ravindra Maywahlall — only two weeks into the role at the time of the January hearing — failed to assure senators who attended the hearings that the issues associated with the migration process would be rectified in short order. Senator Samuel Carrion maintained that the poor service was “affecting our quality of life and how we do business here in a territory,” and said that the telecommunications company needed to do more to provide customers with the service they continue to pay for.