WAVE Telecom has asked the Office of Utility Regulation to intervene to end interconnection problems with Cable & Wireless Guernsey. C&W has denied claims that it was responsible for the delay in the launch of Wave’s 2G and 3G mobile services.

It said that it had made every effort to respond to Wave’s changing requirements, but Wave managing director Tim Ringsdore said that the negotiations were taking too long.

He wants to meet the new 1 July launch deadline.

‘Following a meeting with the OUR last week, we now have no option but formally to ask for its intervention to resolve these prolonged issues,’ he said.

‘We have exhausted all avenues of negotiation and have now reached the end of the road. We are as keen as the regulator and the public to see the launch of our new mobile service and fully intend to launch by 1 July as directed by the OUR.

‘But this can happen only when obstacles put in our way are removed.’

Wave declared two formal disputes yesterday: over the testing of its interconnection link and details of the reference offer, which set out the relationship between the two companies.

C&W has stopped testing on the link, blaming errors found on the signalling links in the network. Marconi, which supplied the equipment, has confirmed the problems are minor and do not affect the service provided, said Wave.

The objective of the testing phase is to iron out any issues that arise and ensure that a high-quality service can be delivered, said Mr Ringsdore.

‘Delays in this testing only delay the opening of the mobile interconnection link, which is not to the advantage of the OUR, the public or Wave.’

He added that C&W had been aware for months of the way Wave intended to deploy and configure the network.

The second dispute relates to amendments to the reference offer being negotiated by C&W which, Wave said, were outside the regulator’s requirements.

‘We are concerned that C&W Guernsey is trying to place onerous and unnecessary stipulations to the reference offer in relation to mobile networks,’ said Mr Ringsdore.

C&W said yesterday that it was disappointed that Wave had felt the need to ask the OUR to intervene.

It said that it had worked hard to assist Wave in resolving the technical difficulties that had been experienced and that, as previously stated, many of Wave’s problems lay outside C&W’s control.

‘We welcome competition and hope that Wave will be in a position to launch its mobile network on the revised date of 1 July,’ said a spokesman.

‘While we understand the instinct to look elsewhere for someone to blame, we are reluctant to take part in a public debate on issues that are not under our direct control.’