A cell site being erected to give coverage to customers in communities such as Todman Peak, Zion Hill, Luck Hill and Long Trench. Photo: Facebook

Temporary sites (cell on wheels) that were installed on Jose Van Dyke and other neighbouring communities to restore coverage following the passage of Hurricane Irma that struck the territory on September 6, 2017. Photo: Facebook

According to Digicel CEO, Kevin R. Gordon, the company is aiming for 95 percent coverage on all islands following Hurricane Irma. Photo: Facebook

This is according to Kevin R. Gordon, CEO of Digicel’s Virgin Islands branch, in an exclusive interview with our newsroom on Saturday October 14, 2017.

Other areas that have been restored are: Zion Hill, Towers, Peter Island, Lambert, Bay Hill, Anegada (Settlement), and Anegada Beach Club.

Mr Gordon further stated that Jost van Dyke has 80 percent coverage while the main island of Tortola has 95 percent coverage between East, West and Central areas.

"We are working on capacity and overlapping coverage for the areas that have coverage but they want faster speed and then we are trying to optimise the sites," explained the CEO of Digicel.

Cell on wheels to give temporary coverage

Mr Gordon disclosed that the initial stage of Digicel’s project was to get the temporary sites (cell on wheels) up and running to just give coverage while the permanent sites are being repaired. Additionally, the next stage is to clean up all the old cell towers that got damaged during the hurricane.

Following the installation of the temporary sites and the cleaning up of the old sites, the Digicel team will bring in additional resources to erect the permanent structures, according to Mr Kevin R. Gordon.

"That’s going to be kind of fast and furious because we want to complete everything in a very short order. We want to give persons a good Christmas present. So you will see a lot more activities on the ground once they start doing the cleanup of all the old cell towers," Mr Gordon said.

Digicel aiming for 95 percent coverage on all islands - Kevin R. Gordon

The CEO expressed that he is trying to get at least 95 percent coverage on all islands and once this is done, the technical team can start to enhance the temporary sites that will give customers better speed, coverage and user experience.

"It is not going to be perfect but we want to get to a place where persons can stream, they can watch their movies and just to have a good enough entertainment on our network and then we start building out the permanent structures which will give you a better experience overall."

Mr Gordon told our news room that the installation process is fairly quick. Once they get permission from land owners, the temporary sites will be installed and coverage will be up and running.

The CEO of Digicel is asking the public to be patient because the restoration process is "not an easy one", while explaining that the antennas on the sites have to be replaced with new and spare antennas.

"We had to mix and match and optimise a network with new and old technology. My technical guys have been fairly good in optimising the network to ensure that we have a good overall experience on our network and I want to thank them for a tremendous job on a trying situation," expressed Mr Kevin R. Gordon.