The Opposition's spokesman for Telecommunications last night said he was pleased cable had been restored to the Island's televisions at the weekend - but urged Government to take steps to ensure the CableVision fiasco did not happen again.

Shadow Minister Allan Marshall said the United Bermuda Party was delighted that the Telecommunications Ministry and CableVision had finally signed off on a new service level agreement and 11-year licence, but said he believed the three-week stalemate that led up to it had been unnecessary.

"We are very pleased an agreement has been reached, but we consider it very unfortunate that this agreement took so long to accomplish," said Mr. Marshall.

"I would hope that the Ministry would begin to negotiate this type of agreement well ahead of time in future, before the expiration of licences for service providers.

"In this particular case, the service level agreement did not rear it's head, from the customer's perspective, until the day before the previous licence expired."

The Shadow Minister called for the service level agreement signed off by CableVision to be made public as soon as possible, along with other similar agreements for other service providers, such as BTC and Belco.

And he said when other new service providers were being considered for a licence, they, too, should be forced to put the same kind of service level agreements in place, to ensure a level playing field.

Mr. Marshall added: "I think both sides in this need to take responsibility for what happened.

"There has been a lot of finger-pointing and trying to apportion blame, as opposed to trying to find a solution. We all know that when you point a finger, three of them are pointing back at you."

Cable was restored to Island's televisions at 9 p.m. on Friday after CableVision pulled the plug on its service in a row with the Ministry over the length of its new licence.

Telecommunications Minister Renee Webb would only grant a one-year licence until CableVision put an improved service level agreement in place.

She claimed she had talked to CableVision well in advance about the agreement, and not simply the day before the expiration of its previous licence, as claimed.

However, CableVision requested a 15-year licence, claiming anything less would not be commercially viable.

On Friday, the two sides thrashed out their arguments for the last time, finally signing off on a new 18-page agreement and agreeing to an 11-year licence after a week of talks.

Ms Webb said she believed the cable blackout and protracted negotiating had not been necessary, but said she was glad a deal had finally been reached.

And the Minister said she doubted whether CableVision would ever do anything similar again as competition was likely to be just around the corner, with either one or possibly two new satellite companies looking for licences.

* CableVision wishes to point out that it previously offered a credit to customers where their cable service had been lost for more than 24 hours after being reported, and it is not a new item that has been introduced with the improved service level agreement.

Ms Webb said last night that although she had never in the last three years spoken or met with CableVision chairman Rod Hansen, she had, on many occasions, talked to general manager Jeremy Elmas about the need for a service level agreement.

And she said the claim that the request was made the day before the licence expired was not true.

On the other points made by Mr. Marshall, Ms Webb said she agreed that the whole debacle had been unnecessary, but said people should only concentrate on the fact that service to the public will now be better.

"I don't want to see this happen again, either, but I doubt it ever will happen again," said Ms Webb.

"Competition will take care of service."

The Minister said on Friday that two new companies were hoping to be granted licences to provide cable and satellite viewing, and one, or even both, were likely to be granted.

And she said while all telecommunication companies should have a service level agreement in place, it will not be a consideration when a licence is first granted to a new business.

"Service level agreements are not part of the hearing (for licences)," said Ms Webb.

"There are a number of things that are looked at in the process, but that's not one of them. However, having said that, any good company would want to have a service level agreement in place, anyway. I suppose it could be made a condition of the licence, but we would not initially do that."

And Ms Webb said she hoped that CableVision's agreement would be publicised in the press soon by her Ministry, so members of the public could see the level of service they are owed.