Telecommunications Firms Update Post Storm

[Updated] Following Tropical Storm Fay, the island’s telecommunications firms have been working to restore all service as fast as possible.

Digicel said “while the network remained operational throughout the passing of Fay and the large majority of customers were able to complete calls and use data throughout and in the aftermath of the storm and during Sunday, isolated structural damage to a very small number of sites has left a few areas limited to 2G speeds or, in a small number of cases, no coverage.”

CellOne said over 80% of CellOne’s towers are fully operational, adding that “some customers may continue to experience intermittent service until all sites have been serviced. The majority of sites still offline are owed to lack of power along with a few sites impacted from the high winds.”

Bermuda CableVision said more than half of their subscribers now have service and they “continue to rely on BELCO to advise us when we can approach areas to restore service to other subscribers in a safe manner.”

Digicel Statement

In the aftermath of Tropical Storm Fay, Digicel teams continue to work non-stop to bring the mobile network back to full capacity.

While the network remained operational throughout the passing of Fay and the large majority of customers were able to complete calls and use data throughout and in the aftermath of the storm and during Sunday, isolated structural damage to a very small number of sites has left a few areas limited to 2G speeds or, in a small number of cases, no coverage.

Digicel is pleased to have worked closely with emergency service providers to ensure priority access to the network and notes that Tropical Storm Fay had no impact to Digicel Business Solutions customers who continue to receive a high quality of service. Additionally, Digicel Home Internet customers were unaffected and are still able to access the Internet.

Digicel CEO, Alistair Beak, comments; “We anticipate 95% of our network will return to normal service, just 36 hours after Fay’s initial hit, as the remainder of our sites are fully restored thanks to our engineers who have worked tirelessly over the last 24 hours. In light of school closures, childcare was offered to all staff today to ensure that we could continue to provide our customers with the best possible service.”

With the forecasted arrival of Hurricane Gonzalo, Digicel will be unrelenting in repairing the damage caused by Fay. The company notes that it has once again activated its comprehensive Hurricane Preparedness Plan which seeks to protect the interests of its customers, staff and dealers.

Plans are already in place to have additional members of Digicel’s technical team on site during Hurricane Gonzalo in order to ensure the continued high quality service to customers and emergency supplies, supplementary telecommunications equipment and additional staff are at close hand should they be needed.

Says Mr. Beak, “We encourage everyone to track Hurricane Gonzalo, perform all the necessary preparations before it makes landfall and to stay safe as the storm passes through the island. Likewise, we would like to assure our valued customers that we are taking every measure to ensure that we provide the reliable means of communication that our customers expect and that our customer care team will be available 24/7 as always to ensure our customers receive the very best service.”

CellOne Statement

CellOne said they would like to advise its customers that in the wake of the storm, over 80% of CellOne’s towers are fully operational.

They said “some customers may continue to experience intermittent service until all sites have been serviced. The majority of sites still offline are owed to lack of power along with a few sites impacted from the high winds.”

CEO Frank Amaral said, “We understand how reliant Bermuda is on our service especially in the time of an emergency. We hope that everyone is safe considering the severity of the storm and thank you for your patience as we work towards being 100% operational.”

All 3 of CellOne store locations across the island are open for business, and for those who have phone and internet connectivity, the Customer Care Centre is also available by dialing 700.7000 or visiting cellone.bm.

Update Oct 14, 12.17pm: CellOne said, “93% of its network is operational at this time. Our operations team continues to work diligently to get all sites up and running at full capacity. With the anticipation of Hurricane Gonzalo making its approach, additional field support staff will be arriving on Island ahead of the storm. In the event of any site damage, this will ensure the quickest possible recovery of the network.”

CableVision Statement

Terry Roberson, CEO, Bermuda CableVision said, “Bermuda CableVision has worked day and night and will continue to work to resolve all service issues to our subscribers.

“More than half of our subscribers now have service and we continue to rely on BELCO to advise us when we can approach areas to restore service to other subscribers in a safe manner. We would like to thank our customers for their patience and we apologise for the inconvenience.”

BTC

BTC would like to inform the public that we have achieved a restoration rate of 95% leaving less than 1,000 customers yet to be restored. Crews are diligently working to restore service to those customers and updates will be provided as they are made available.

Land line phone service remained intact throughout the storm and allowed thousands of customers to stay connected. Certain areas remain without service due to power outages and we anticipate the service of these customers will be restored as their power comes back on.

The BTC team is aware of the remaining areas still impacted and ask that customers refrain from calling until asked to do so.
This will help keep call congestion to a minimum and allow us to respond to any emergency calls that we receive. The public will be advised when individual faults should be logged.

Thank you for your patience as restoration efforts continue

Additional Coverage Of The Storm Aftermath

For all our coverage of Tropical Storm Fay click here, and for our live blog click here.

#BermudaBusiness #CableVision #CellOne #Digicel

Category: All, Business, News, technology