Puerto Rico Communications Recovery Suffering From Power Woes

Puerto Rico ISP Open Mobile says hurricane-disrupted service could be fully restored to its 250,000 customers across the island by year's end, as long as electricity is similarly restored. "Nothing could prepare us for what happened," said OM Advertising Manager Ricardo Hernandez. He called Hurricane Irma, which preceded Maria, "like a dress rehearsal" that had OM working on restoring towers.

Lack of reliable electric power remains a big problem for most telecom providers, said Luis Romero, vice present of the Puerto Rico Telecommunications Alliance and CEO of Optivon, a local provider. "With the exception of the connection of commercial electric power to the Puerto Rico Telephone Company [PRTC] main switch and data center, all the other telecom switch and data centers are operating on diesel fueled standby generators," he emailed Sunday. "The generators are breaking down and as a result the wireline and cellular network is having major outages. It is quite difficult to increase the service coverage and much more difficult to improve on quality until electric power is restored." Telcos "are running around moving generators from one place to another and replacing damaged ones," but they can't "plan ahead" for network reconstruction" he said. The public utilities commission, La Junta Reglamentadora de Telecomunicaciones de Puerto Rico, didn't comment, nor did other major telecom companies there.

Romero said cellular carrier "open roaming" improved coverage by creating one large system shared by all users, "but the data throughput is poor and busy signals are the norm since the three million customers are trying to access the same network." Damaged fiber cables are being replaced, but that will likely "take three to four months to get back to pre-hurricane quality levels," and until commercial electric power is restored, the networks will remain "frail," he added.

The FCC extended a waiver of Lifeline USF recertification rules through March 31 in Puerto Rico, at the request of PRTC (see 1710230058). And it provided on its own motion the same relief in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Given the "extraordinary" hurricane damage, "strict compliance with these rules would be impracticable and would risk de-enrollment of Lifeline subscribers during the recovery efforts," said a Wireline Bureau order Tuesday in docket 11-42. The waiver said it gives Lifeline-supported carriers "additional time to complete the recertification process for those subscribers whose service anniversary dates fall within this waiver period."

The FCC "is increasingly focused on long-term recovery strategies," it said in a statement. It said it is coordinating these efforts through its Hurricane Recovery Task Force, its participation in Federal Emergency Management Agency-led long-term recovery planning and other channels "to ensure that restoration of vital communications services in Puerto Rico is among the highest of priorities.”

Commissioner Mignon Clyburn during a news conference Wednesday praised agency efforts in Puerto Rico (see 1711010057), saying the commission has been “as proactive as possible." She's aware of “no major complaints” about FCC handling of the crisis, conceding “there are always imperfections.” She said commissioners and lawmakers had worked together to be responsive to the situation, and that the FCC was “in it for the long haul.”

As of Wednesday, 55.1 percent of Puerto Rico's cellsites remain out, the agency said in its latest status report. It said two Puerto Rico TV stations continue to be suspected out of service and 33 have unconfirmed status. It said 30 FM radio stations are suspected or confirmed to be out of service, along with 31 AM stations.

Before Maria, OM had close to 10 percent of the broadband market in Puerto Rico, the company said. In the immediate aftermath, 99 percent of the company's network was down, Hernandez said. Some 55 percent of its customer base has full service, and close to 70 percent have some service, he said. About 80 percent of the company's 200 operational tower sites are running on diesel-powered generators. Other ISPs are "in the same boat," Hernandez said. "We all basically use the same sites."

The amount of recovery varies across the territory, with the southeastern portion hit particularly hard, Hernandez said. He said OM crews still haven't been able to access some parts of the island to even assess damage, adding OM crews are scheduled to get to the island of Vieques, off Puerto Rico's east coast, next week for the first time since the storm.

Service restoration can at times be set back by cleanup and rescue efforts resulting in an OM fiber optic line being cut, Hernandez said. He said the company has had to deal with theft of diesel fuel and generators.