Telecommunications and mobile services have been restored in about 90% of
the Grand Bahama island area, however network capacity is still limited.
Only about 10% of mobile and telecommunication service has been restored
on the Abaco island. Over 60% of the housing and buildings on Abaco was
destroyed. Four critical communications points have been established on
Abaco for relief efforts.
BTC and Aliv, the two major mobile providers in the Bahamas, have entered
into a free roaming agreement for the next 30 days allowing customers to
connect to either working cell towers without roaming charges.
The Emergency Telecommunications Cluster partnered CISCO TacOps,
Ericsson Response, NetHope, TSF and Vodafone Foundation are providing
connectivity for humanitarian responders in four sites:
- The Marsh Harbour port and international airport (set up by Ericsson
Response, CISCO TacOps and WFP);
- Maxwell Supermarket, used as the military EOC (set up by TSF);
- A healthcare facility (set up by Vodafone Foundation).
Equipment has been provided by the ETS partners on the ground as well
as by Eutelsat and Hispasat ‒ and services by Inmarsat ‒ as part of the
Crisis Connectivity Charter.
