Macau Daily Times 17.4.2017
Internet Service
The Secretary for Transport and Public Works has already received a preliminary report from CTM over Tuesday's internet blackout.
Raimundo do Rosario now demands the operator to submit a more in-depth report in the following five days.
On Tuesday night, 30,000 CTM customers suddenly disconnected from the online world for almost four hours.
The service operator blames software defection causing the internet blackout.
Though the company's CEO immediately apologized the next day, there was no mention at all of any compensation.
Among the 30,000 affected users, all were residential customers.
That's according to Raimundo do Rosario who received CTM's first malfunction report.
But that's only a preliminary analysis.
The Secretary for Transport and Public Works now gives CTM five days to explain what exactly happened. "We've already demanded CTM to give us a preliminary report to us within 24 hours of the incident. They will also submit another more detailed report five days later so what we need to focus now is to look at the first report", Raimundo do Rosário said.
For now, analyzing CTM's first report is a priority for authorities, namely to the head of the Macao Post and Telecommunications Bureau.
Lau Vai Meng says in order to fix the software defection, which led to high traffic loads, CTM is now working on upgrading the system.
But regarding whether or not CTM should be held accountable, they'll need to first analyze the second report. Ms. Lau said: "I myself am also affected by the incident together with 30,000 households. On the other hand we need to focus on the issue of accountability, but first we need to analyze the final report and see if CTM should be held accountable. There are two things we need to focus on right now. First is to focus on preventive measures and second is CTM's accountability".
Amid public concerns if they'll impose heavier punishment to CTM, Lau says they must first look at the second report.
Macau Daily Times 21.4.2017
Internet Service
Local telecom operator CTM
experienced a partial blackout yesterday when its fiber network service
failed to function for several hours during the evening. CTM issued a
press release early today, mentioning that its Network Management Center
detected that two major internet access servers were in failure,
affecting access to internet from a significant number of residential
users. “CTM immediately rerouted the relevant internet traffic and an
improvement could be observed. However, a large group of users continued
to experience difficulties in accessing the internet,” CTM mentioned.
“Although the root cause is still under investigation, an unusual surge
of traffic was registered immediately prior to the incident. The service
continued to improve through the evening and eventually resumed at
23.49.”
20.4.2017
Local telecom
operator CTM called a press conference yesterday to provide more details
regarding the partial blackout that occurred Tuesday night. According
to CTM, the software problem involving two major internet access servers
started at 7.30 p.m.
The service resumed at 11.49 p.m. and
affected access to internet to 30,000 customers. The company’s CEO,
Vandy Poon, said that CTM would assume “full responsibility” for the
incident. While thousands of customers complained on CTM’s hotline, many
did not get to speak with an operator. In response to journalists’
questions, Poon said that the line was made available throughout the
entire blackout. “There are customers who couldn’t get to our operators
in the first instance and they would have to be put on queue,” he said.
The root cause of the blackout is still under investigation and Poon
believes that the issue is still not completely addressed. CTM
technicians will work during low-traffic hours in the early morning to
solve it.
Govt demands detailed report on CTM's internet blackout
Thursday, 20/04/2017The Secretary for Transport and Public Works has already received a preliminary report from CTM over Tuesday's internet blackout.
Raimundo do Rosario now demands the operator to submit a more in-depth report in the following five days.
On Tuesday night, 30,000 CTM customers suddenly disconnected from the online world for almost four hours.
The service operator blames software defection causing the internet blackout.
Though the company's CEO immediately apologized the next day, there was no mention at all of any compensation.
Among the 30,000 affected users, all were residential customers.
That's according to Raimundo do Rosario who received CTM's first malfunction report.
But that's only a preliminary analysis.
The Secretary for Transport and Public Works now gives CTM five days to explain what exactly happened. "We've already demanded CTM to give us a preliminary report to us within 24 hours of the incident. They will also submit another more detailed report five days later so what we need to focus now is to look at the first report", Raimundo do Rosário said.
For now, analyzing CTM's first report is a priority for authorities, namely to the head of the Macao Post and Telecommunications Bureau.
Lau Vai Meng says in order to fix the software defection, which led to high traffic loads, CTM is now working on upgrading the system.
But regarding whether or not CTM should be held accountable, they'll need to first analyze the second report. Ms. Lau said: "I myself am also affected by the incident together with 30,000 households. On the other hand we need to focus on the issue of accountability, but first we need to analyze the final report and see if CTM should be held accountable. There are two things we need to focus on right now. First is to focus on preventive measures and second is CTM's accountability".
Amid public concerns if they'll impose heavier punishment to CTM, Lau says they must first look at the second report.
MTEL accused of unpaid wages
The
telecommunication service provider MTEL has been accused of owing
unpaid salaries to its employees, according to a report by Macau
Concealers.
Some of the company’s employees reported
that most MTEL staff have not obtained their salaries corresponding to
last February and March. These workers claimed that they were
apprehensive about making a complaint to the Labour Affairs Bureau
(DSAL) for fear of losing their jobs.
They also said that MTEL has been
withholding part of their salaries for housing subsidies and bonuses,
which, in their opinion, amounts to another way of cutting wages.
According to the report, MTEL currently
has approximately 100 employees. Unpaid salary issues reportedly involve
all staff, but the situation is amplified regarding non-local
employees.
One employee said that the company offers
a few employees MOP20,000 as base salary, of which MOP3,000 is reserved
for housing subsidies. Under such conditions, the base salary is
reduced to MOP17,000.
In response to the report, MTEL denied
the accusations made against the company, refusing to make further
comments because salary and subsidy issues are a matter of “internal
operating secrets.”
The Bureau of Telecommunications and
Postal Services (CTT) also replied to the Macau Concealer’s inquiry
saying that the accusation “involves the company’s wage management
system, and whether it is true, it is related to the company’s internal
operating secrets.”
Macau Daily Times 25.4.2017
Cultural Affairs Bureau | Irregular employment contracts scrapped following CCAC report
The Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC) will
terminate employment contracts with 94 of its irregularly recruited
staff, as stated in a report released by the Commission Against
Corruption (CCAC) on March 10. IC president Leung Hio Ming disclosed
this information yesterday, during a press conference at the IC office
regarding the aforementioned report. All department heads were required
to occupy the front rows in the conference room.
The CCAC report highlighted several
unlawful hiring practices at the IC. The report was issued just weeks
after a leadership change at the IC, in which former president Ung Vai
Meng quit unexpectedly and was replaced by Leung, one of the bureau’s
former vice presidents.
Leung began by explaining that between
2010 until the present, IC has purchased 32 public facilities and
organized many different art events. This resulted in an increased
workload, and the department began facing severe pressure in terms of
human resources.
“About three fourths of the people will
end their relationship with IC between June and September,” revealed
Leung. The aforementioned 94 people are still working for the IC.
Leung noted that IC, following the CCAC
report, has already terminated its previous employment contracts with
these staff members.
However, in order to allow IC more time
to adjust itself in terms of human resources, the IC has continued to
employ these people through temporary contracts “to meet emergency
needs.”
The law states that citing “emergency
needs” as justification for a temporary contract allows IC a maximum of
one year to resolve its employment difficulties.
Besides the majority who will leave IC
before the end of September, the remaining workers will also gradually
leave the department before their temporary contracts finish. “They [the
94 people] need time to plan their future,” said Leung.
The CCAC report also pointed out that
the bureau had appointed two department heads who had less than five
years of working experience.
Leung claimed that the above happened
because several Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau (IACM) functions,
employees and facilities were merged with IC, which had appointed 14
department heads back in January 1,2016.
“Due to the deviation of the IC’s
understanding of legal articles, flaws arose within the institute’s
administrative behaviors,” explained Leung. According to him, Chief
Executive Chui Sai On waived working experience requirements for the two
department heads.
Last Friday, while attending a meeting
at the Legislative Assembly, Chui said that he would never, within his
term, make use of his rights to waive working experience requirement for
any kind of leadership.
The new IC president also expressed that he “completely agreed with and respected the CCAC.”
Regarding the parties responsible for
the aforementioned human resources problem, Leung said that “all
department heads and leaders are responsible for the problems, as the
problems spread widely all over IC.”
“They [the issues found] do not involve
interests or violations of the law,” said Leong, adding that “many
levels have problems.”
Although the improper recruitments were
approved by IC leaders as well as by other IC high officials, Leong did
not disclose any accountability or punishment to be undertaken by these
leaders.
However, he repeatedly indicated that
these mistakes happened only because of the IC’s imperfect knowledge of
the region’s laws, and were therefore unrelated to corruption.
Leung further repeated several times
that “the [CCAC] report had great impact over the IC, and a great
influence over the society.”
He also expressed his hope that society will continue to support the IC, and look at it in a comprehensive and objective way.
Alexis Tam says Ung is not involved in corruption
The Commission
Against Corruption report was released a few weeks after IC former
president Ung Vai Meng stepped down from his position.
Regarding the doubts whether Ung was
involved in the improper recruitment of human resources, Secretary for
Social Affairs and Culture Alexis Tam spoke in Ung’s support last
Sunday, asserting that no corruption was involved in the recruitment.
“He was not familiar with the laws,
[and] is not involved in any corruption,” said Tam, adding that Ung
might not have a deep understanding of the city’s laws regarding the
employment process. “He was not aware that it was a mistake back then,”
Tam said.
28.4.2017
The
board of directors of the Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC) acting when the
Commission Against Corruption (CCAC) report revealed recruitment
irregularities will face disciplinary procedures.
The Secretary for Social Affairs and
Culture, Alexis Tam, revealed yesterday that legal advisers analyzed the
report, which criticized the recruitment system in use for the past few
years by IC.
“Bearing in mind that there are signs of
breach of duty by members of the board, [Alexis Tam] decided to take
disciplinary proceedings against the Cultural Affairs Bureau board
members at the time of the report: Ung Vai Meng, Leung Hio Ming and Chan
Peng Fai.,” a statement issued by Alexis Tam office reads.
In order to rectify the irregularities
detected, which occurred between 2010 and 2015, IC suggested creating
individual work contracts with the affected workers. The secretary said
that he will seek legal advice from the Public Administration and Civil
Service Bureau (SAFP) to verify that this solution complies with the
legal requirements.
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