Y2K status report for the Americas

NEW YORK, Dec 15 (Reuters) - Below is a country-by-country breakdown on preparations by nations in the Americas to deal with millennium bug problems in the key areas of electricity, telecommunications, water distribution and aviation.

--ARGENTINA

Electricity: Argentina's only power transmission company to handle 500-kilovolt power lines, Transener , ``has done every necessary check with absolute success and trusts everything will work normally,'' company spokesman Oscar Dores says.

Telecoms: ``Telefonica de Argentina (NYSE:TAR - news) is fully prepared to face the millennium bug,'' press chief Eduardo Mirabelli says.

``Telecom Argentina (NYSE:TEO - news) is prepared to face the challenge of the millennium change maintaining service and quality,'' says Communications Director Luis Perazo.

Water: Water firm Aguas Argentinas ``has been working since two years ago to face any difficulty due to the change of millennium,'' Press Manager Fabian Falco says.

Aviation: The Air Force, regulator body for both military and civil flights, says it has implemented an Argentine government-mandated control plan which is going ahead ``with no difficulties.''

Furthermore, it has implemented a contingency plan along the guidelines of the International Civil Aviation Organisation under which some flight frequencies will be widened and put under manual control to avoid any computer-related risk.

--BRAZIL

Electricity: Marcos Ozorio of Brazil's official 2000 coordinating commission says electricity generation, transmission and distribution is 100 percent compliant. A successful Y2K simulation was carried out in June and another was set for mid-December, he says.

Telecoms: Communications Ministry spokesman Eduardo Balduino says all preparations for Y2K have been made. The nation's telecoms watchdog agency Anatel has monitored testing by all phone companies, and 7,000 telecoms workers will be on duty.

Water: Ozorio says there is no national plan for water, for which municipalities and states are responsible. But he says the nation's biggest water companies carried out Y2K tests with no glitches reported.

Aviation: Brazil's airport authority Infraero says the country's 67 airports have all passed Y2K testing and practised emergency drills. Infraero's Y2K spokesman Wagner Mussato says emergency power was in place in case of electricity blackouts.

--CANADA

Electricity: Francis Bradley, vice-president of the Canadian Electrical Association, says Canadian power providers are ready for the toll of midnight on December 31.

``Since September of this year, Canadian companies have been ready, including all contingency plans in place, tested and drilled. In terms of the actual preparedness of the systems, that was completed in June,'' he says.

``Of course there will be outages, there always are, but they won't have anything to do with Y2K. There will certainly be outages on New Year's Eve, there always are, simply because someone has too much to drink and drives into a pole. That is a frequent reason for outages on New Year's...There are also always weather-related outages but we don't anticipate or expect any outages as a result of Y2K.''

Telecoms: Colette Zibula, spokeswoman for Ottawa-based Stentor, a central operating company for Canadian telephone carriers says: ``Stentor has a high level of confidence leading up to the roll-over. We're ready for the year 2000.''

She says the telecommunications network was ready in 1998 and business processes -- including billing etc. -- in place mid-1999. They have also prepared step-by-step contingency plans covering a wide range of what-if scenarios.

Water: ``As far as we're concerned, water and sewage and things of that nature...as of the end of October, beginning of November...they looked in reasonably good shape,'' says Paul Thibault, Federal Coordinator for Y2K contingency planning in Ottawa.

He said it is also important to note that because water and sewage have not been computerized for long, even if there are problems with Canada's municipally managed water supply, it will be easy to find manual ``work-arounds.''

Aviation: David Honkanen, Year 2000 Project Manager for Nav Canada said: "We are Y2K-ready.

``We will have invested close to C$20 million over three years. We started in 1996. At this point, all of our operational businesses have been assessed, renovated, tested and certified.''

--COLOMBIA

Electricity: The government's National Planning Department says energy generation and transmission processes are at low risk.

Telecoms: Spokeswoman Angela Davila says Colombia's state-run telephone company Telecom has invested $10 million in introducing millennium-compliant systems. She says the chances of any Y2K-related problems are remote. Sergio Regueros, chairman of Bogota's municipal-owned phone company ETB, says he does not envisage any Y2K problems.

Water: Ramiro Valencia, manager of Colombia's largest utility, the municipally owned Empresas Publicas de Medellin, says the company has invested $8 million updating its systems and foresees no problems. A statement issued by the government's National Planning Department says no water supply or sewage problems are foreseen in the large and medium-sized cities. Systems in smaller towns are largely mechanically operated making them invulnerable to problems related to the year 2000.

Aviation: Colombia's Civil Aviation director Ernesto Huertas says all critical communications, navigation and radar systems have been thoroughly checked. He ruled out any problems. A statement issued by the government's national planning Department says management and security systems of airports have been tested and verified and show a low risk level.

--CHILE

Electricity: The Planning Ministry's Y2K committee, Accion 2000, says the electricity sector is 96 percent prepared. A breakdown is as follows: generation (94 percent), fuel (97 percent) and transmission (95 percent).

Telecoms: The telecommunications sector is 99 percent prepared, Accion 200 says, according to the following breakdown: basic telephony (99 percent), mobile phones (98 percent), national long distance (98 percent), international long distance (98 percent) and cable television (96 percent).

Water: Water utilities are 94 percent ready. Accion 2000's breakdown: public companies (97 percent) and private companies (81 percent).

Aviation: Air transport is 99 percent ready, Accion 2000 says. --MEXICO Electricity: Mexico's Federal Electricity Commission, which

generates 98 percent of the country's electricity, says all of its systems are millennium compliant after spending two years gearing up for the year 2000. The Energy Ministry held its third and final trial run over the weekend, saying "Mexico's energy sector is ready to face the change of millennium with no problems at all."

Telecoms: Mexico's dominant telecommunication carrier, Telmex (NYSE:TMX - news), says it held a successful test on Nov. 29 of its network systems, covering everything from pagers to Internet access. Telmex set the clock on its network systems to a few minutes before midnight on Dec. 31 and established a video conference between two companies, one in Mexico City and the other in the north-central state of Guanajuato. Then Telmex employees telephoned to other companies, and also connected to the Internet and made domestic and international long-distance calls. When the clock ticked past midnight, communications were unaffected. The demonstration was carried out in front of reporters.

Water: Mexico City's water system will stock up on fuel in case its own generators are required to help maintain supplies of drinking water or drain waste water from the basin 7,000 feet (2,200 metres) above sea level in which the city lies, says Guillermo Grediaga, who oversees millennium conversion projects at the Mexico City government.

Each municipality in Mexico is responsible for monitoring its own Y2K compliance, and the National Water Commission could not immediately provide a nationwide status report.

Aviation: Mexican aviation officials completed a trouble-free, large-scale test of air traffic control and communication systems back in August, saying they were sure the country's air space was safe for the 2000 conversion.

--PERU

Electricity: As of November 15 -- the latest report available -- power firms were 95 percent prepared for Y2K, the government-run national statistics institute, which is coordinating the Y2K changeover, says. The remaining firms included mainly smaller companies that have mechanical backup.

Telecoms: The institute said Peru's telecommunications sector is one of the most prepared for Y2K, with 99.7 percent of the sector ready. Peru's leading telecom Telefonica (NYSE:TDP - news) said it has invested about $20 million in preparing its compute for the changeover.

Water: The institute says the water industry is 99.5 percent prepared.

Aviation: Corpac, the civil aviation authority, says contingency plans have been prepared for the 2000 changeover. The U.S. Federation Aviation Administration says Peru has a ``low probability'' of severe or lengthy disruptions.

--UNITED STATES

Electricity: North American Electric Reliability Council (NERC) says North American utilities are ready for Y2K.

``The work has been completed...the contingency plans are in place. The lights will be on in North America,'' says NERC spokesman Eugene Gorzelnick.

NERC cautions that power outages are normal at all times due to weather, equipment failures and accidents.

``These outages will still occur, but they will not be Y2K-related,'' Gorzelnick says.

NERC, based in Princeton, N.J., is an industry group whose task is to ensure reliable service on the power grid that connects some 3,000 electric utilities to customers throughout the United States and Canada.

Telecoms: Less than one percent of the 200 million local telephone lines are at risk for Y2K problems, according to the Network Reliability & Interoperability Council (NRIC).

The major long-distance carriers and the four major ``Baby Bell'' local telephone companies, which serve the majority of the nation, said they are prepared for the date change.

Only a handful of the small, local carriers serving mostly rural communities are at risk for potential call delays, temporary outages or difficulty in ordering new service or identifying network problems, the NRIC says. These potential problems, however, will remain localised and not contaminate networks that are Y2K compliant, says John Pasqua, AT&T Corp.'s (NYSE:T - news) vice president of year 2000.

Many of the long-distance companies say they have contingency plans in place to reroute traffic in case of problems and will have generators to power their systems if the utilities fail.

Major carriers also say they will have teams of extra workers on staff New Year's weekend to handle any unexpected mishaps.

A surge in calling volume, as customers call friends and family to ring in the New Year, may cause busy signals and will be the biggest potential threat to U.S. telephone networks, says consulting firm Gartner Group.

Water: The U.S. government's Y2K Information Coordination Centre says 92 percent of water systems are believed to be Y2K compliant based on industry studies, and reports no problems.

However two private watchdog groups say many U.S. drinking water providers and sewage treatment plants have failed to complete their preparations for the Year 2000 computer glitch and say this could result in overtreated tap water and sewage overflow.

``There are serious doubts that the 55,000 drinking water utilities and the 16,000 publicly owned wastewater facilities in the United States will be well prepared for Y2K,'' a Dec. 10 report by the Natural Resources Defence Council and the Centre for Y2K & Society says.

The American Water Works Association, the oldest and largest professional group dedicated to safe drinking water, disputes the report and says its members are ``well on the way if not fully prepared for Y2K.''

Aviation: The Federal Aviation Administration declared its computers compliant as of June 30. The 10 biggest U.S. airlines have spent a total of $650 million on Y2K work, according to regulator filings and all but the smallest charter operators have told FAA they are prepared. All airports with scheduled service have been checked by the FAA for safety and security. The Air Transport Association's Aviation Millennium Project says flying through the date change will be ``uneventful.''

--VENEZUELA

Electricity: The president of the Venezuelan presidential commission on Y2K, Gustavo Mendez, says the electricity sector is 100 percent ready for the millennium bug after having spent $60 million preparing for it. The mainly state-run sector has the advantage of being technologically backward but the U.S. State Department says in an October report there is a moderate risk of power cuts in regional areas.

Telecoms: National telephone company CANTV says it expects no problems on Jan 1. It has spent $70 million and an estimated 700,000 man-hours over the last two years preparing for the glitch. However, it warns that bottlenecks around midnight on December 31 could disrupt services as Venezuelans rush to talk to friends and relatives.

Water: With most of the technology in the Venezuelan water sector relying on electromechanical machines, there is little fear of disruption. According to Hydroven, the state-run holding company for Venezuela's regional water companies, most treatment and pumping plants have their own on-site generators in case power should fail.

Aviation: Col. Jose Galvis, airport expert on the Y2K presidential commission, said the sector was 96 percent prepared at the country's 20 airports. Only one radio traffic control machine still needs to be upgraded in the mid-sized city of Barcelona. As in other sectors, Venezuela's lack of digital equipment has been an advantage.

-- Llama man (llama@cool.net), December 15, 1999

Answers

Oh, thank you great LLama man. But, isn't this the same old bullshit they've been saying for the last couple of months.

Maybe in a "polly" world.

-- Familyman (prepare@home.com), December 15, 1999.

Llama man, Family Man proves it: it doesn't matter what you say. The doomers here just know there is more to the story. It's a great combination of a conspiracy theory and public relations effort, all in one.

No one knows what they're talking about....except the doom crowd. The warm, loving 'Paula' tells us 4 billion will die via y2k.

Is there anything more that needs to be said about the gloomlits?

Thanks.

-- Bad Company (johnny@shootingstar.com), December 15, 1999.

Venezuela admittedly did NOTHING regarding y2k up untill the begining of 1999. FACT!

What person would believe that A WHOLE COUNTRY could be ready, when, comparably, it took ONE service(SSA), 5 YEARS to get ready in this country(USA)???????????????????????????????????????????????

I'd sooner go hunting for Big Foot.

-- CygnusXI (noburnt@toast.net), December 15, 1999.

Dear Cygnus,

You can't compare a technologically advanced American department with that of a low-tech Venzuelan department.

Comparing apples and oranges is the norm on this forum.

Llama

-- Llama man (llama@cool.net), December 15, 1999.

LM,

I've got my fingers crossed that at least part of what you've posted is true. However, I think that operating under the assumption that *all* of it is true is unrealistic. You may be suffering from the same syndrome you rail about in certain doomers; i.e. staking out a position and brushing aside any contrary evidence... Would you agree that that might be possible?

-- Choirboy (choirboy@hellzchoir.edu), December 15, 1999.

Looks like Lama has diarhea of the finger tips.

Did I spell that correctly? Err, translation: Lama is spewing all the self congratulatory spew from all the CIOs and, "officials" (who are all trying to convince stock holders and voters that they are on top of things.)

Good, goin', Lama, you can be proud of yourself for being the number one numbskull on Planet Earth - an easy target for the mind controllers (oops, advertisers) (so sorry, don't mean to stir up your Irish.)

-- paul leblanc (bronyaur@gis.net), December 16, 1999.

Llama man,

Apparently you conveeeeeniently forgot or overlooked the U.S. Dept of Energy Reports of oil exporting nations that is on their special "watch" list. Nations that the DoE is concerned about in regards to energy and oil production. These are extensive reports on various countries exporting oil. Among those are Venezuela. I posted a thread on this just a couple of days ago.

http://greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=001zHG

Below is just a snippet of some of the highlights from that report: -----

Venezuela has one of the highest electrification rates in Latin America, at 91%, and Venezuelans are the highest per capita users of electricity in Latin America. The electric power sector in Venezuela is characterized by under-investment, heavy state control, controlled tariff rates, and frequent shortages. The rapid electricity demand growth, combined with serious under-investment in the power sector, has resulted in shortages and a need for private investment, at an estimated cost of $6 billion over the next 5 years. In addition, an estimated $200 million in upgrades to the transmission and distribution systems is urgently needed to reduce the growing number of power failures. In April 1999, the Energy Ministry began the reform of Venezuela's power sector, armed with Congress' April 1999 grant to President Chavez to regulate the power sector by decree and re-order the industry.

http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/venfull.html

See also additional DOE analysis on Venezuela http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/security/hot.html#VENEZ --------------

NOW... I posted a separate thread for the other nations on the DoE "watch" list... oil exporting nations that the DoE is concerned about

Here's the URL for my thread and a snippet below that for Columbia. But don't take my word for anything. Check it out for yourself. These countries are basket cases just waiting for the least little thing to take them down.

From my thread on the DoE's World Watch on Oil Exporting Countries This thread that I posted the other day deals with several countries on the "concerned" list of DoE. Not exactly a confidence builder now is it? http://greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=001zSh

DOE analysis on Columbia Partial quotes on oil http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/colombia.html

Low world oil prices reduced Colombia's export revenues, despite an increase in the volume of oil exports from Colombia's Cusiana and Cupiagua fields. To deal with the resulting fiscal deficit, President Pastrana submitted a severe austerity plan to Congress immediately after taking office. He has also called for large scale investments in education, health, housing, and infrastructure in the countryside (where rebel groups exert significant influence).

-- R.C. (racambab@mailcity.com), December 16, 1999.