FCC Commissioner Starks Visits Puerto Rico to Learn About Making Communications More Resilient

The weekend of Feb 21, Federal Communications Commissioner Geoffrey Starks visited Puerto Rico, where he convened a field hearing on communications resiliency and visited mountain areas to learn about the challenges of deploying resilient infrastructure in Puerto Rico’s rural areas.  

“There are four key lessons I took from this trip,” Commissioner Starks said. “First, access to power will always be a central issue. During the recent earthquakes, the overwhelming majority of cell-site outages resulted from power loss, not damage to facilities...Second, there was a pronounced digital divide in Puerto Rico long before Hurricane Maria and the recent earthquakes. As I saw up close, bringing reliable, resilient broadband to rural communities in Puerto Rico often means adapting to challenging terrain. Ending internet inequality in Puerto Rico will take sustained commitment and significant resources. The FCC needs to provide both. Third, communications failures exacerbated the mental health challenges that many Puerto Ricans, including first responders and 911 workers, faced in the wake of Hurricane Maria and the recent earthquakes...Telehealth could help all Puerto Ricans access the care and support they need, but only if we close the digital divide. Finally, Puerto Ricans stand ready to meet these challenges...The FCC must be a good partner to the many Puerto Ricans working hard to improve their communities. I look forward to collaborating with them and learning from them.”