BellSouth Prepares for Hurricane Katrina
27 Août 2005 - 9:09PM
PR Newswire (US)
Emergency preparations completed throughout Louisiana NEW ORLEANS,
Aug. 27 /PRNewswire/ -- If Hurricane Katrina makes landfall in or
near Louisiana, BellSouth will be ready according to Merlin Villar,
Regional Director for South Louisiana. "Thanks to BellSouth's
advanced preparations for this year's hurricane season, our network
is prepared for Hurricane Katrina. Our back up systems and
emergency procedures are in place and operational," he said.
"BellSouth's network is resilient and reliable, and our employees
work tirelessly to keep the phone lines working." Villar explained
that since a hurricane can hit BellSouth territory in many parts of
the state, the company has to prepare on a wide-scale basis. "We
have contingency plans in place for each area of Louisiana that is
vulnerable. If a hurricane should strike, emergency procedures
extending throughout BellSouth's nine-state region go into effect,"
he said. Hundreds of portable generators are in warehouses
throughout the Southeast on standby, ready to be loaded onto
tractor trailers and transported to an area hit by a storm. "The
number one cause of telephone outages during a storm and
immediately after it has passed is an interruption of commercial
power to telephone switching offices and area distribution
facilities. That's why we have battery back-up systems in place at
each site," he said. "Our first priority after a hurricane passes
is to hook up diesel-powered electric generators to the offices and
distribution facilities that do not have commercial power. It's the
most efficient way of preventing the loss of service to the
majority of our customers." To further ensure reliability, the
BellSouth network also includes SONET (Synchronous Optical Network)
rings that provide instantaneous network redundancy or
instantaneous backup connections in the event of a failure. In the
rare event of a damaged cable due to storms or flooding, BellSouth
maintains radio equipment to regenerate communications signals
wherever necessary. BellSouth technicians can also be reassigned to
areas hardest hit by the storm if extensive restoration work needs
to be done. Last year, many BellSouth technicians from Louisiana
assisted with restoration efforts in Alabama and Florida. Villar
reminded customers that during power outages, cordless phones and
other telecommunications equipment that relies on commercial power
may not operate until electricity is restored, even if the
telephone line is still working. Customers may want to keep a
traditional telephone set that does not require electricity on hand
for emergencies. "BellSouth has one of the most sophisticated
communications networks in the world and our trademark is
reliability," Villar said. "We are prepared for Hurricane Katrina
and stand ready to keep communications systems operational." About
BellSouth Corporation BellSouth Corporation is a Fortune 100
communications company headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. BellSouth
has joint control and 40 percent ownership of Cingular Wireless,
the nation's largest wireless voice and data provider with 51.6
million customers. Backed by award winning customer service,
BellSouth offers the most comprehensive and innovative package of
voice and data services available in the market. Through BellSouth
Answers(R), residential and small business customers can bundle
their local and long distance service with dial-up and high-speed
DSL Internet access, satellite television and Cingular(R) Wireless
service. For businesses, BellSouth provides secure, reliable local
and long distance voice and data networking solutions. BellSouth
also offers online and directory advertising through BellSouth(R)
RealPages.com(R) and The Real Yellow Pages(R). BellSouth believes
that diversity and fostering an inclusive environment are critical
in maintaining a competitive advantage in today's global
marketplace. More information about BellSouth can be found at
http://www.bellsouth.com/. DATASOURCE: BellSouth Corporation
CONTACT: Merlin Villar, +1-504-528-7900, for BellSouth Corporation
Web site: http://www.bellsouth.com/ Company News On-Call:
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