Verizon Wireless President and Chief Executive Officer Dennis Strigl sent a letter to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin updating the commission on the carrier’s progress in restoring services to areas hit by Hurricane Katrina.
Strigl said the carrier has restored service to more than 95 percent of its geographic coverage in the areas impacted by the hurricane, and it has restored service to nearly 350 of the 400 cell sites that were knocked out by the hurricane and subsequent flooding.
The carrier said it is now concentrating its recovery efforts in the New Orleans area where 60 sites remain down, largely due to T-1 outages. Strigl added that those still impacted towers principally are in downtown New Orleans with about one-third of those sites still inaccessible due to high water or security concerns.
Strigl also noted that earlier this week Verizon Wireless instituted a new policy not to charge its postpaid customers in the affected areas for airtime minutes used during September that exceed their monthly airtime allowances. The carrier also is waiving all charges for long distance, roaming and text messaging through the end of the month.
Verizon Wireless reported last week that it was not requiring customers to change their price plans, extend their contracts or enter into new contracts if they are issued temporary numbers. The carrier also said it would not disconnect a customer’s number for non-payment, and that all past-due notices have been stopped, and collection agencies have been notified not to contact any of those customers.
In addition, Verizon Wireless said it has issued airtime credits and extended expiration dates for prepaid customers, and it has suspended automatic payments from subscriber bank accounts.
T-Mobile USA Inc. said it has reopened a New Orleans retail outlet and is providing area residents with free phone calls, as well as exchanging phones for T-Mobile USA customers who might have lost or had their phones damaged during the hurricane. The carrier added that it has restored service levels to normal or near normal in most areas impacted by the storm, and it will continue to provide free Wi-Fi service at all Hot Spot locations in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama through the end of the month.
