The Turnbull administration and the V.I. Telephone Corp. have given themselves a month to come up with a plan to make the government’s phone system more cost effective.
According to recent reports, the government is substantially in arrears in paying its Vitelco bills. While neither party has specified how much, a Government House release on Wednesday said an "agreement would be struck to address the pending ‘aged accounts.’"
The government "has made a partial payment" from the recent $300 million in bond proceeds to Vitelco "in the effort to reconcile some of those charges," the release stated.
The two parties have agreed to have a join task force examine ways to "modernize, maximize and make more efficient and cost effective" the government’s phone service.
Following a meeting Wednesday, Turnbull administration chief of staff Juel Molloy and Vitelco president Samuel Ebbesen announced that they had turned over the telephone task force investigation to Paulette Rabsatt, the governor’s deputy assistant, and Vitelco financial officer Cheryl Francis. They have until April 17 to submit their findings to Molloy and Ebbesen.
Ebbesen said the telephone company will suggest ways to modify how it bills the government so as to control information systems management better and to make the overall telephone system simpler and more efficient.
"This government can no longer afford the luxury of paying for an elaborate telephone system with unnecessary features," Molloy said. "We must come to the reality that we have been spending beyond our means –- and that must be corrected."
The "no frills" system could even include some upgrades in schools and libraries to maximize Internet services and data networking, Ebbesen said.
