Pai Says Visit to Puerto Rico, USVI Shows Much Repair Work Remains
FCC adoption of Chairman Ajit Pai’s proposed relief order for storm damaged wireless and wireline carriers in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands (see 1803160051) will help communications providers “prevail” in the face of the upcoming 2018 hurricane season,…
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Pai said in an illustrated blog post about his recent travels to those areas. Pai’s post describes visits to damaged broadcast and wired infrastructure, and conversations with local officials about the difficulties caused by the storms. Pai saw broken utility poles, cable lines supported by bamboo stalks, and wrecked U.S. Virgin Islands station WTJX-TV Charlotte-Amalie, St. Thomas. Destroyed wired infrastructure is a “major problem,” Pai said. “Replacing it is hard and expensive.” Pai mentioned his meetings with the governors of both Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and telecom officials in both territories. “There’s much to do in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands to recover from last year’s hurricane season,” Pai said. “The FCC will continue to stand side by side with them throughout the recovery and restoration process.”