Reconnecting the people of Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria
In September 2017, a category 5 hurricane devastated Puerto Rico. Hurricane Maria was the worst natural disaster in the country’s history – it left the island without power, caused widespread damage and claimed many lives. In the following days, getting Puerto Rico back online became a priority and AT&T worked closely with other telecoms companies to do this.
As well as providing generators and communications equipment, AT&T brought employees from the US to help rebuild the network. The company also used drones to provide mobile coverage from the air. As local business owner Manuel Baez noted, “Any service or any communication that still works after a hurricane like this… it’s priceless. After getting clean water, [the next question] was ‘how can I get in contact with people?’.”
AT&T collaborated with Claro and Sprint in a way never seen before – sharing resources, equipment and information – and together, they were able to help reconnect many people and businesses affected by the hurricane. Commenting on the recovery efforts, Carlos Tejera of the Department of Commerce, said, “Seeing all the companies getting together and helping Puerto Rico in that moment, restoring connectivity and restoring the system, it made me feel hopeful that things were going to be OK.”
