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Thousands of Jamaicans were unable to contact their families as Hurricane Beryl struck Jamaica on Wednesday, knocking out cellphone signals.
The powerful Category 4 storm devastated parts of the island and triggered massive power outages across the country.
On Thursday, Digicel Jamaica confirmed that more than 50% of its base stations lost power connections, affecting customers across the island.
Another 25% of base stations rely on generators and batteries, the telco said.
Records from the Office of the Utility Regulatory Authority show that by 2022, Digicel will have 3.09 million registered mobile phones, which would give it a penetration rate of 106%.
Digicel said customers’ mobile services have been experiencing disruptions due to public power outages at several base stations.
On Wednesday, the Jamaica Public Service Agency revealed that 60% of customers across the island were without power.
Three days ago, Digicel said its systems were ready for Cyclone Beryl and its base stations were refuelled and equipped with critical supplies.
It also said that a response team was in place.
On Thursday, Digicel chief executive Stephen Murad said he and his team were working urgently to resolve the outage.
“Right now, speed of restoration is of the essence. The sooner we restore power, the sooner we can serve customers in the affected areas,” he said.
Murad said the company was refueling generators that have been running since the hurricane hit, and was also coordinating with emergency response teams to clear blocked roads and downed power lines leading to its base stations.
“Our hard-working teams are working across the country to quickly assess and restore service. As the primary connectivity provider for more than 2 million customers, we know how important it is for them to stay connected. We apologize for the inconvenience and thank our customers for their patience and understanding.”
Meanwhile, Flow Jamaica said 25% of its mobile network was unavailable during the hurricane’s passage on Wednesday.
The company said it was actively monitoring its network following the outage.
“Despite downed cables, poles and trees affecting cables and service lines, Flow can report that our network is performing well… as we maintained approximately 75% mobile network availability and 70% fixed (internet and landline) network availability.
“In most cases, our service outages are due to commercial power outages,” Flo said.
On Tuesday, ahead of the hurricane, Flow also said it was well prepared to maintain network resilience during the hurricane’s passage.
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