Puerto Rico’s telecom providers weather Ernesto as FCC monitors
Claro, Liberty and T-Mobile worked to maintain connectivity despite power outages throughout the island.
Puerto Rico’s three main telecommunications providers reported some outages as Tropical Storm Ernesto brought heavy rains and gusty winds across the island on Wednesday.
Most of the service interruptions were due to power outages, confirmed representatives from Claro Puerto Rico, Liberty Puerto Rico and T-Mobile.
Claro confirmed that 98% of its mobile customers remained connected to the network, while 70% of its fixed internet customers had service.
“This is due to the interruption of the electric power service on the island, which has more than 600,000 subscribers without electricity,” the provider stated. “In addition, all government entities served by the company are stable and fully operational, ensuring the continuity of essential services for the population.”
“Our technical team is ready to expedite full restoration of service in affected areas when weather conditions permit,” the company added.
Tropical Storm Ernesto, which slammed Puerto Rico for hours with drenching rain, caused interruptions for nearly half of Liberty Puerto Rico’s fixed internet service customers, also due to power outages.
While “59% of our customers have service, the other 41% are offline mainly due to lack of power at homes, businesses and distribution equipment on streets and poles,” said Giovanna Ramírez de Arellano, senior director of communications and corporate responsibility
“Currently, all core services are working at 100%. Regarding our mobile network, 94% of cell sites are working and providing 100% of coverage. Coverage for hospitals is also at 100%. At the moment, we have 42% of our mobile cell sites working with generators,” she said.
“Just one fiber outage has been reported. It is impacting some of our mobile cell sites. We already have personnel working to repair it,” she added.
At T-Mobile, officials said, “The network is holding strong as Tropical Storm Ernesto passes through Puerto Rico, with previous hardening through permanent backup power solutions keeping customers connected through commercial power outages.”
The carrier also stated that its “emergency teams will be deployed, refueling our generators during the day, recharging batteries and repairing any impact caused by the storm.”
A day before the storm’s landfall in the region, the Federal Communications Commission activated its Disaster Information Reporting System (DIRS) to monitor communications infrastructure in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
DIRS is a web-based system that communications providers — including wireless, wireline, broadcast, cable and Voice over Internet Protocol, and satellite services — use to report the status of communications infrastructure and provide situational awareness information during times of crisis.
Communications providers were asked to submit reports starting at 10 a.m. on Wednesday and continue daily until DIRS is deactivated, the agency noted.
Hola, with climate change , Tropical Storms act like Hurricanes, Ernesto was a good Example of it !