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Cell Carriers Making Progress After Disasters in Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands and California

In Puerto Rico, 61% of the island’s population now has coverage, up from 60% last week

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WASHINGTON � The FCC is reporting that 74.1% of cell sites are still down in Puerto Rico after being hit by Hurricane Maria on Sept. 12. But service is improving; 61% of the island�s population now has coverage, up from 60% last week. Eleven counties still have no working cell sites.

In the U.S. Virgin Islands, the FCC reported that about 45% of the sites on St. Thomas, St. John and St. Croix are back in service, serving about 88% of the islands� population, according to rcrwireless.com.�

In California, much of the work has been on enabling first responder communications and restoring service to the local areas that have been impacted by the ongoing wildfires, according to the same article. AT&T reported that as of Oct. 13, 99% of its network was up and running in the impacted areas. Mobile cell sites are use in areas where towers had burned, such as Santa Rosa and Calistoga, Calif.

Verizon confirmed that 99% of its network is in service, even as some sites are being backhauled via temporary microwave connections running on generators.�

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