At Sept. 21, 2017 01:00 UTC, partial telecommunications service was
restored to Dominica. However, essentially 100% of the island does not
have electric service, cell service is still out, and most people do not
have service.
CDEMA/RSS has delivered 5 satellite telephones to the Dominica government
and island emergency services. About 50 relief workers arrived from
Barbados and now working to re-open the port and airport for further
relief supplies and personnel.
Some people asked about satellite phones on Dominica earlier. Satellite
phones are very useful after a disaster, but have some limitations
during a catagory 5 hurricane. Satellite phones only work outside, not
where you want to be during a hurricane. Satellite signals also
experience rain fade in heavy storms, so you need to wait until the
hurricane clears from the area. Satellite phones also need batteries or
power, which tend to fail just when you need them. I don't know the
exact details yet about what happened to the telecommunications on
Dominica.
Some ham radio operators have been verified as operating from
Dominica. Its an unfortunate, but necessary thing that needs to be
verified during disaster communications.