Residents across western Jamaica continue to face severe telecommunications challenges nearly five months after Hurricane Melissa devastated the region, with widespread reports of unreliable mobile service and internet connectivity hampering daily life and economic activities.
In Westmoreland parish, frustrated customers describe enduring what one anonymous resident called ‘hellish’ conditions, with both major providers—Digicel and Flow—failing to deliver consistent service. The Farm Pen neighborhood resident reported making multiple unanswered service requests, noting that promised 24-hour callbacks never materialized despite repeated follow-ups.
Telecom companies cite interdependent recovery complexities, particularly reliance on Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) for pole infrastructure restoration and commercial power reactivation. Digicel CEO Stephen Murad revealed that five towers require complete reconstruction with completion projected for April 2026, while 14 additional sites await JPS infrastructure repairs. Many sites still operate on temporary satellite backhaul systems, resulting in congested networks that cannot deliver optimal LTE experiences.
Service quality varies dramatically by location and provider. Taxi operator Mark Ellison reported Flow provides better coverage along the Savanna-la-Mar to White House route, while Digicel service frequently drops. Another driver, Michael Samuels, expressed relative satisfaction with Flow despite acknowledging signal weaknesses in areas where hurricane-damaged fiber networks forced satellite dependency.
Sandra Alcock, a toll gate operator from Grange Hill, described the service as ’50/50′ for both providers, noting significant financial losses from her monthly $4,000 Digicel credit due to unreliable connectivity. Multiple anonymous residents in Grange Hill rated Digicel as average and Flow as worse, with similar patterns reported in Hanover parish where speed tests near Flow towers showed average daytime download speeds of just 1 Mbps.
In St. James parish, many Digicel customers have resorted to data-based calling as traditional voice services frequently fail. The company outlined its four-phase recovery process, currently operating phases three and four simultaneously, involving fiber restoration via JPS infrastructure and network re-optimization requiring antenna adjustments across 925 towers.
Flow Jamaica declined to provide specific timelines for restoration when contacted by media, requesting additional time to respond to inquiries about the ongoing challenges.