Hurricane Melissa sharply reduced connectivity across Jamaica as power failures and damage took mobile and fixed networks offline. In that gap, satellite service became part of the emergency response.

Flow’s parent company, Liberty Caribbean, worked with Starlink to provide direct-to-cell coverage where terrestrial infrastructure had been severely affected. The arrangement allowed basic data and text communication to reach compatible phones through low-earth-orbit satellites.

Satellite links do not replace resilient local networks, but they can bypass damaged towers, fibre routes and power-dependent equipment during the most critical hours after a disaster. That redundancy gave emergency services, businesses and families another way to communicate.

The experience leaves Jamaica with a wider question for future storm planning: how terrestrial and satellite systems can be designed to work together before the next outage begins.

Source: Data Center Dynamics; original PCMag reporting noted by Rob Pegoraro