Tuesday, November 7, 2017

Liberty Global Providing Free Satellite Wi-Fi In Puerto Rico

Denver-based telecom provider Liberty Global has been traveling around the island of Puerto Rico, offering up free Wi-Fi connections, as part of an ongoing "WiFi Tour" it is running with the Government of Puerto Rico and the Puerto Rico Telecommunications Regulatory Board (PRTRB), the company said on Monday. According to Liberty Global, the tour has featured three mobile units designed to provide first aid communications after a natural disaster. Liberty Global said its Wi-Fi services have been used by officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to complete more than 1,800 federal aid applications, with 800 people cared for by personnel from the School of Medical Sciences of the University of Puerto Rico (UPR), along with 10,000 hot meals served by Chefs for Puerto Rico. The effort to provide traveling Wi-Fi in Puerto Rico was announced in October by Intelsat, the satellite Internet provider supplying bandwidth in the effort, along with satellite antenna developer Kymeta, which is venture backed by Liberty Global Ventures. Puerto Rico is still recovering from Hurricane Maria, with major parts of the country still without power more than 46 days after the storm hit the island--with some areas not expected to get power until well into 2018.