WASHINGTON—About six months after Hurricane Maria made landfall and nearly four months after an initial trip to the islands, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai has announced a follow-up trip to Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands to review recovery efforts of the islands’ communications facilities.

Pai will visit the islands with members of the FCC’s Hurricane Recovery Task Force as part of its efforts to learn from the devastating hurricane season in 2017 and apply those lessons to future disasters, as well as continuing to support ongoing recovery.

[Pai Visits Puerto Rico, Comments on Recovery Effort]

Recovery efforts that have already been made by the Commission since Hurricane Maria have included advancing the territories’ nearly $77 million universal service funding, accelerated the post-incentive auction transition to support broadcasters, granted temporary waivers of Lifeline’s recertification rules, expedited the experimental license for Alphabet’s Project Loon to provider internet access, approved targeted and flexible E-Rate support to restore connectivity in schools and libraries, and granted more than 500 waivers and requests for Special Temporary Authority to re-establish communications in affected areas.

“I look forward to leading a team to Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands to get a firsthand assessment of the situation on the ground,” said Pai in the FCC’s announcement. “It’s important to learn what has worked well and what could be done better—and to apply those lessons to future storms.”

[FCC Allows Early Repack in Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands] 

Pai will visit Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands from March 7-10.

WASHINGTON—More than a month after Hurricane Maria ripped through Puerto Rico, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai made a two-day visit to the island to understand the recovery efforts still in progress. After speaking with local officials and visiting a number of impacted sites, Pai recognized the challenges that Puerto Rico and its residents still face.

According to a summary issued by the commission, during his trip Pai visited various parts of San Juan and towns along the northeast Puerto Rico coast; he inspected a tower site and associated infrastructure in El Yunque National Forest; met with President Sandra Torres López and Associate Member Alexandra Fernández Navarro of the Telecommunications Regulatory Board; and attended a briefing hosted by FEMA.

Pai praised the efforts of the individuals and companies that have been a part of the recovery effort, including amateur radio operators, broadcasters, cable operators, fixed wireless companies, wireline carriers and mobile providers. “All of this work reflects the ethos I saw on many signs and t-shirts during my time on the island: ‘Puerto Rico Se Levanta’ (Puerto Rico is Rising),” said Pai.

“Recovering from this storm requires an all-hands-on-deck effort,” Pai was quoted in the release. “The FCC remains committed to doing everything we can to help restore communications networks as quickly as possible.”

To date, the FCC has assisted by providing $77 million in advanced universal service funding for the restoration of communications networks. It has also allowed fixed wireless providers to access 5 GHz spectrum and had FCC staff on the ground assisting in the recovery efforts.

“Looking ahead, we’re going to keep thinking creatively and doing proactively to help restore networks on the island,” said Pai, part of which he expects will include more funding in the months to come.

Click here for the most recent DIRS report for Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

WASHINGTON—More than a month after Hurricane Maria hit, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands are still feeling the effects on their broadcast and communication systems. Since the last DIRS update TV Technology covered, there has been improvement on the operation status of some Puerto Rico TV stations.

According to the DIRS report from Oct. 29, five TV stations—WKAQ, WIPR, WNJX, WTIN and WORO—in Puerto Rico are confirmed as operational. There are still two stations that are suspected to be out of service, WIPM and WELU. In addition, there are 67 TV stations that have been issued Special Temporary Authority to be offline and 33 TV stations that have unconfirmed status.

In the U.S. Virgin Islands, 14 stations have been issued Special Temporary Authority to be offline, while two stations have unconfirmed status.

Cell site service is also improving. Reports still show that Puerto Rico has 57.4 percent of its cell sites out of service, but all but 16 counties on the island have more than 50 percent of cell site service. The report also says that for the first time since Hurricane Maria hit no county in Puerto Rico has 100 percent of its cell sites down. Wireless companies have also opened up roaming on the island to boost access. As a result, approximately 64 percent of the population is reportedly covered by wireless carriers.

For the U.S. Virgin Islands, 36.4 percent of cell sites are still down, though St. John still has 100 percent of its cell sites out of service. DIRS reports that 93 percent of the population is covered.

DIRS is still activated for all counties in both Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Read the full report here.

WASHINGTON—The impact of Hurricane Maria still affects the entire island of Puerto Rico, including its television stations. According to the FCC’s Disaster Information Reporting System report from Oct. 12, WIPR in San Juan, Puerto Rico and WIPM in Mayaguez are still off the air.

Currently, only WKAQ-TV and Telemundo virtual Ch.2 UHF 28 are reported as being on the air. In addition, nine radio stations continue to be out of service.

There are reports that WIPR and WAPA TV (Ch. 4) have been able to broadcast by leasing other stations' antennas after their own were damaged in the storm. 

There has been some improvement in the number of cell sites that continue to be out of service, though the number is still high. In Puerto Rico, 76.1 percent of cell sites are reported down, though that is down from the 88.8 percent of cell sites listed in the Oct. 1 report. The U.S. Virgin Islands still have 55.4 percent of its cell site out of service, down from 68.9 percent.

DIRS is still activated for all counties in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Here is the full Oct. 12 report. 

WASHINGTON—As broadcasters and communication services are still deep in the recovery process in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai has issued a new proposal with the goal of helping carriers to rebuilt their networks more quickly. The new proposal would allow carriers to Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands to access their Universal Service Fund allocations.

According to Pai, in a statement released by the FCC, access to USF would make as much as $76.9 million available to repair wireline and wireless communication networks and restore communication services. The option to receive USF funding in advance is also provided through this proposal, allowing carriers to receive seven months of funding immediately rather than the standard monthly payment, to expedite repair and restoration efforts.

Pai urges his Commissioners to approve this proposal as soon as possible. If the proposal is not accepted by the FCC’s Oct. 24 meeting, Pai says that they will vote on it then.

Click on the Image to Enlarge

WASHINGTON—Puerto Rico is still struggling with the aftermath of Hurricane Maria as a report from the FCC reveals that as of Oct. 1 88.8 percent of cell site across the U.S. territory are down. The information comes from DIRS, which is still activated for all counties in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

All counties in Puerto Rico except for Bayamon, Guaynabo and San Juan have more than 75 percent of their cell sites out of service. Twenty-seven out of 78 counties have 100 percent of their cell sites out of service.

The numbers are slightly better in the U.S. Virgin Islands, as 68.9 percent of cell sites are down; though 100 percent of cell sites are out of service in St. John.

A number of TV stations are also still out of service, including WIPR in San Juan, PR, and WIPM in Mayaguez, PR. This is in addition to the 22 AM/FM stations that are still down. WKAQ-TV and Telemundo virtual Ch.2 UHF 28 are being reported as on air.

Reports also indicate that a large number of consumers are without either cable services or wireline service. Puerto Rico reports that at least 11 switches are out of service due to either SS7 or toll isolation.

In addition, the main Public Safety Answering Point in Puerto Rico is offline. 911 calls are being sent to the back-up PSAP in Puerto Rico. The U.S. Virgin Islands have reported its 911 Call Center to be completely shut down and is unable to retrieve Phase I or Phase II location information for wireless callers and ANI/ALI for VoIP callers.

INDIANAPOLIS & WASHINGTON—The Society of Broadcast Engineers and the National Association of Broadcasters are requesting that members consider how you can assist Puerto Rican colleagues in the aftermath of Hurricanes Irma and Maria.

Photo by Yuisa Rios

SBE President Jerry Massey sent an email telling members that the Puerto Rico Broadcasters Association, via the NAB, is asking for assistance in the form of “donations of time and material to make repairs” so that more of the stations on the island can get back on the air and serve citizens. Specifically, contract engineers are highly sought after at this challenging time.

“NAB has been in close contact with the Puerto Rico Broadcasters Association, and on their behalf, we did outreach to the broadcast engineering community to try and identify engineering resources that could be made available to help bring Puerto Rico radio stations back on the air. We’ve had a good response and are directing interested parties to the appropriate people at the PRBA who are managing the recovery effort,” said NAB Executive Vice President of Communications Dennis Wharton.

Those who are willing to help stations in this U.S. territory are encouraged to contact NAB Vice President of Advanced Engineering David Layer by email at NAB Headquarters as soon as possible.

This story first appeared on TVT's sister publication Radio Magazine.