Telecoms race to restore communications in Haiti

The race to restore vital communications services in Haiti continues, TeleGeography CommsUpdate reports.

Trilogy International, which owns the Comcel (Voila) GSM mobile network serving around 1 million Haitians, said that its network is up, but power is not sustainable. The cellco pointed out that even before the earthquake, Haiti's electricity grid only provided for about eight hours of daily power, with diesel generators required for the remainder of the day.

Members of the Trilogy/Voila disaster recovery team have been assessing the damage to each of its 300 or so cell sites across Haiti, and the company said its next step is to finish restoring wireless data services based on GPRS and EDGE systems.

Three of the leading local ISPs, Hainet, Multilink and Access Haiti, use broadband fixed wireless access (BFWA) systems for connectivity, including certified WiMAX networks and pre-WiMAX equipment, and their technicians have been working to restore damaged wireless infrastructure.

Access Haiti and Hainet previously were non-operational following the earthquake, but had restored services by Jan. 15.

Meanwhile, IDT Corporation, an international telecoms provider, is working with Access Haiti to set up calling stations in hotels and other central sites to allow Haitians to use the IDT VoiceLine service for international calls. The IP phone service does not depend on the local landline network operated by Teleco, which experienced significant damage in the earthquake.

Chinese equipment provider ZTE Corporation delivered solar-powered GSM handsets and its ‘GoTa’ trunking system to the Haitian government. The equipment includes GoTa digital trunking base stations and temporary-use mobile diesel engines. Previously, ZTE’s GoTa systems were used as part of a relief program following the May 2008 earthquake in China’s Sichuan region.

Other international telecoms vendors are also involved in relief efforts: the Ericsson Response team was sent to Haiti to establish mobile communications through a container-based mini GSM system.