• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Mississippi Cellular Service Restored in Aftermath of Katrina

Posted on: Saturday, 3 September 2005, 06:00 CDT

By Marti Covington
Daily Mississippian ( U. Mississippi )

(U-WIRE) OXFORD, Miss. -- Cellular South, the only major wireless provider headquartered in Mississippi, has made significant progress in restoring cellular services lost in Jackson, Miss., and on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. According to a news release issued by the company, Cellular South began restoring wireless service Monday across Hancock, Harrison and Jackson counties. The three counties are the most populated along the coast and were hardest hit by Katrina's powerful winds and heavy rains. Service was restored to Pascagoula and Ocean Springs, Miss., by Tuesday morning and Biloxi and Gulfport, Miss., by Tuesday afternoon. Service was available in some parts of Hancock County, which includes the Bay St. Louis area, by Wednesday morning, according to the press release. "Our goal for the next week in south Mississippi is trying to restore coverage to the major thoroughfares, streets and roads," said Jana Latour, a spokesperson for Cellular South. "The second phase will be to restore service to every building and neighborhood." Latour said they have already gotten into the second phase of restoration in Jackson. "In Jackson and areas above we have already established the initial phase and we're working on [the] second phase," she said. Cellular towers failed during Hurricane Katrina for a variety of reasons. "It was several factors going in. The water was a major issue, but the wind was also harmful because of downed trees and power outages," Latour said. Nearly all of the towers are capable of becoming fully operational, but the lack of power makes restoring service particularly difficult. "The good news is that our towers are capable of operating off of self-containing generators, and for the most part, our towers didn't suffer any physical damage," said Clinton Schove, marketing manager and spokesperson for Cellular South. Crews are using such generators at many towers in south Mississippi. In the hardest hit areas, Cellular South deployed temporary cellular sites to support service. Though the company has made progress in restoring service, customers may still have difficulty placing and receiving phone calls. "Demand for our service is high," said Hu Meena, Cellular South president, in a press release. "Immediately after a tower comes back online, it is loaded with the maximum number of calls that the newest available technology can handle." As a result, Cellular South encourages those looking to establish contact with friends and family to consider text messaging as an option. "If text messaging is a possibility, we ask that customers utilize this means of communication as it places less demand on wireless networks than voice calls," Meena said in the release. Hurricane Katrina is not the first disaster that Cellular South has come up against. Experiences with other natural disasters prepared the company to effectively handle service loss. "Many sites never lost service," said Schove. "We have an emergency plan in place, crews coming in from all over the country and a disaster relief program." As a part of disaster relief, Schove said Cellular South has sent employees from other locations into south Mississippi to take over jobs for workers who were personally affected by the hurricane. In addition, company volunteers are delivering more than 1,300 phones to public service groups like the Red Cross and the Mississippi Highway Patrol. Customers can also take comfort in knowing the company has restoration of coverage as its first priority and considers bills and payments to be a minor detail. "We are extremely committed to our customers and fellow Mississippians, and right now we're focusing on getting service back on. We haven't even begun to think about payments," Schove said.

(C) 2005 Daily Mississippian via U-WIRE

Source: U-WIRE

More News in this Category