A TECHNICAL TEAM from telecommunications provider Flow was scheduled to leave Barbados early this morning to join Cable & Wireless (C&W) teams from across the region in restoring services to countries hard hit by Hurricane Irma.
Flow’s network support engineer Govan Greaves and head-end supervisor Ryan Blades will join counterparts from Jamaica and Panama in the rebuilding exercise.
C&W Communications is the operator of the retail brand Flow in the Caribbean, and is the largest full service communicator in the region. The company reported damage to both its fixed and mobile networks in Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, British Virgin Islands (BVI), Turks and Caicos Islands, Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico.
Chief executive officer of C&W John Reid said while the networks “proved very resilient during the passage of the storm”, there was “significant impact to services in Antigua and Barbuda, the British VirginIslandss and the Turks and Caicos”.
Managing director of C&W Flow Barbados, Jenson Sylvester, said yesterday the company was deploying resources to get the infrastructure up and running, as well as providing much needed supplies of water, food and other necessities. In the BVI, more than half of the over 20 cell towers were destroyed, he said, adding it was too early to give an assessment of the cost of the damage.
Much of the efforts were being coordinated from Antigua to the other islands, he added.
Meanwhile, Flow has extended free credit to customers across affected markets, enabling pre-pay mobile customers to make contact with loved ones on their island or abroad, without charges.
In a statement yesterday, it said the free credits would allow customers to use SMS, social media or make calls.
C&W also announced it would not disconnect services of customers on “contracted or post-pay” services such as home broadband, telephone and TV and post-pay mobile “until further notice, to ease the burden on customers during this difficult time”. (GC)
