The Importance of Communication for Puerto Rico

Communication in Crisis

Because of its geographical location in the Atlantic and Caribbean, Puerto Rico experiences frequent hurricanes. It’s also in a zone that is known as “Hurricane Alley”. Many of the islanders know that they will experience hurricanes, but there is always uncertainty on how much damage and destruction the hurricanes cause.

In the September 2017, Puerto Rico experienced back-to-back hurricanes (Hurricane Irma and Hurricane Maria), in which millions of people were left without power, infrastructure was destroyed, and thousands of people died. To date, these storms are known as the deadliest disasters to have hit the island.

Because Puerto Rico is a territory of the United States, agencies such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency (“FEMA”) and the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) were called in to respond to the disasters.

The FCC has a supporting role related to telecommunications issues. After the storms hit Puerto Rico, it was as if the FCC did not want to assist in rebuilding back up Puerto Rico. The FCC:

·      failed to investigate the communications blackout,

·      failed to engage with the affected communities,

·      failed to be transparent about its work in how it would restore communication efforts because of the 2017 hurricanes,

·      failed to hold telecom companies accountable for amount of time they took to restore the services,

·      and failed to follow up on telecom companies on promises that were told on reconstructing the

The FCC is expected to investigate what went wrong and prevent the collapse of communication networks on the island.  In December 2017, only 5 out of 107 television stations were back on the air, cable and landline phone services were not back up and running and the FCC commented these were “non-existent.”

Although it might seem that the FCC did not do much, the FCC did provide services to the island. Most notably, the FCC created the Hurricane Recovery Task Force. The task force purpose was to assist in restoring communications in Puerto Rico. However, the task force did not share the findings of what needed to be restored. The FCC also provided a fund to Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands to help restore broadband service, this was fund was called the “Uniendo a Puerto Rico Fund.” Post disaster, the Government Accountability Office (“GOA”), recommended the FCC to be more transparent and accountable of FCC’s operations by publicly reporting on the actions and findings of the task force. As of July 2025, the FCC is allegedly working on updating its policies and procedures.  As for the fund, in 2021, in Puerto Rico, $127.1 million were provided to utilize fixed services for broadband and advanced voice and mobile carriers were authorized to supply 4G LTE and 5G communication networks. By restoring and expanding communications after the hurricanes, this enabled residents to have access to modern communication services similar to those of the U.S.

It is important for networks to be up and running after crisis to access the damages and to determine what aid is needed and allow residents access essential information and services. Many of the residents on the island have family on the mainland (the U.S.) and they could not communicate with their family letting them know that they were okay or otherwise. This was a devasting time for the residents on the island and family and friends on the mainland. The FCC was criticized for its delayed and less effective disaster relief.

In the United States, the FCC’s response efforts are structured and proactive. In 2022, the FCC established the new Mandatory Disaster Responsive Initiative. The Initiative requires wireless providers in a disaster area to take actions to maintain connection, such as enabling roaming to other networks, improving consumer communication and readiness, improve preparedness, and establish mutual aid agreements. An instance when the mandatory actions is triggered when the FCC’s Disaster Information Reporting System (DIRS) is activated. DIRS gathers updates on the network outages and restoration progress from communication providers when disaster occur and when recovery efforts are put into place. The DIRS was established by the FCC around September 2007 as a response to Hurricane Katrina. On February 20, 2025, mandatory DIRS went into effect under 47 CFR § 4.18 for cable communications, wireless, and wireline. All recipients of the Stage 2 Uniendo a Puerto Rico Fund are also required to report.

Although Puerto Rico is a territory of the United States, because of its remote location and lack of resilient infrastructure, it suffers from adequate response when crisis occurs. The United States and Puerto Rico seem to have an issue with communicating and this is an area where it is important to improve for the betterment of society.