Al Hee, founder of the embattled telecommunications company Sandwich Isles Communications, defended his actions at the company Monday before the Public Utilities Commission.
The PUC is considering whether Sandwich Isles violated the law when it failed to provide sufficient notice to customers about the abrupt cut to telecommunications services earlier this month.
The sudden loss of phone and internet service left an estimated 1,500 customers on Hawaiian Home Lands statewide scrambling to switch telecom providers.
Hee, who went to prison in 2016 on fraud charges related to Sandwich Isles, admits he did not conform to the 30-day notice rule.
“When we were at full-strength, we had many many lawyers that could do this. We don’t now. I apologize if I have violated any rules and authorities. They were not done intentionally. If I have, I have,” Hee said.
“But in the end, all of these rules and regulations, we gotta remember what they’re for, and they are there to ensure that a service, a necessary service is provided to all people in Hawaiʻi, including those people on Hawaiian Home Lands," he continued.
Sandwich Isles has been DHHL’s exclusive telecom service provider since 1995, but the company ran into legal and financial trouble and is now facing foreclosure by the federal government.
DHHL announced two years ago it would be lifting the exclusivity clause with Sandwich Isles and allowing homesteaders to choose from other providers including Hawaiian Telcom and Spectrum.
