Premier Fahie made the comments while passing the motion to have Vance Lewis and Vincent Wattley appointed as Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the TRC Board.

He said: “One of the things that I would encourage them to do is to get a telecoms lawyer because what I am seeing is that some of these companies trying to lose you in some of these legal languages.”

“So, if we want to sit down, playing ‘patty cake’ and don’t go get the necessary high-powered lawyers so that the people of this territory can get a better deal, then it’s our fault,” the Premier added.

Request whatever is needed

The British Virgin Islands has been rated as having one of the most expensive internet rates with underperforming internet speeds in the world.

Premier Fahie said he has therefore instructed the new TRC Board heads to make any necessary requests from the government to have this growing issue resolved.

“Whatever you need, let me know so we can get you what you need so that they can go and do what you need to do and fight the case for the people of the Virgin Islands,” Fahie said.

Meeting with internet providers

The Premier had met with the TRC and local telecoms providers in May 2019 to address many of the internet related issues.

Prior to the meeting, he had told members of the media that his office was going to inform the local regulatory authorities to look into the matter immediately.

He said that persons in the BVI were paying almost four times the price for the same type of service being offered in other Caribbean islands and were constantly forced to endure regular outages and poor customer service.