After Hurricane Irma ravaged the territory’s telecommunications infrastructure, many residents were temporarily forced to reckon with a much more isolated reality.
Some wandered to the tops of hillsides in hopes of finding a network signal. Some crowded the outside of service providers’ stores to access mobile data. And many repetitively checked their phones and tablets throughout each day, hopeful the devices would connect to the rest of the world.
Thankfully, that’s changed in the seven weeks since the storm, with local telecommunication operators managing to restore mobile connections to most neighbourhoods throughout the territory.
However, there is still much work to be done: Internet remains more elusive than phone service, and some outlying areas like Anegada and Jost Van Dyke are still cut off from certain networks.
CCT Global
CCT Global Communications Marketing Manager Recaldo Richardson estimates that his company has restored phone service across 80-85 percent of Tortola.
Parts of Virgin Gorda, including The Valley and Spanish Town, should also be able to access consistent service this week, though JVD and Anegada will have to wait longer, he added.
Data, however, has been slower in coming.
Mr. Richardson said he could not provide an estimate on the percentage of the company’s LTE network that has been restored.
The marketing manager did predict that someone with power and an LTE box — which CCT is currently selling at half price — should be able to access internet from anywhere on Tortola by mid-November or earlier.
The sister islands, however, will take longer.
“We don’t have a specific timeline for full internet restoration as yet,” Mr. Richardson said.
CCT also merged with BVI Cable TV this summer, but that company’s product will take more time to restore as well.
“[Cable is] still quite a high priority, but based on the extent of the damage it will take a lot more work,” Mr. Richardson said, declining to predict a timeline for full restoration.
Though the company has much more work to do, the manager expressed pride at how far it has come.
“I’d just really like to give a big thank you to our small team of engineers, because even though they are little they’ve been doing a lot of work to get our network back up,” he said.
Flow service
Flow, meanwhile, has restored approximately 80 percent of its original network, according to Colin MacDonald, Flow’s VI country manager.
All of Virgin Gorda was also reconnected, as well as Scrub Island, Great Camanoe, Little Camanoe and Guana Island, a Flow press release stated.
The company expects to have almost all of its original mobile network restored by Christmas, Mr. MacDonald explained.
The manager invited customers experiencing mobile service connection difficulties to come into the company’s Tortola or VG office for a free SIM card update.
Flow’s fixed-line internet restoration progress has been moving at a slower pace than its mobile network repair.
“Fixed line internet is dependent on electricity and as such we will be restoring internet in areas where power comes back,” Mr. MacDonald wrote in an e-mail to the Beacon. “However, customers can use our LTE products to gain access in the interim.”
Flow customers can rent an LTE modem for $5 a month and pay no additional charge other than what they were paying for their broadband service, the country manager added.
Digicel
Though Digicel representatives could not be reached for comment, the company announced on Oct. 16 that it had restored 95 percent of its mobile network across the territory, including parts of Anegada, JVD, Virgin Gorda and the other sister islands.
On the Digicel BVI Facebook page, the company confirmed that not all of this was LTE/data coverage. Digicel stated that it was working to connect people with voice services first before establishing data connections.
On Oct. 2, Digicel also announced that it was the first company to bring online connectivity to the people of Anegada after Hurricane Irma when it installed a satellite internet system at the Anegada Health Clinic.
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