Cellular South Wireless Network to Be Fully Operational by Monday, Sept. 12
JACKSON, Miss. - (September 8, 2005) – In the hours and days following Hurricane Katrina’s landfall in the Gulf Coast region, communication was the vital link between victims and would-be rescuers. Lack of that tool could prove deadly.
Even with many of their own homes damaged or destroyed by the hurricane, Cellular South technicians got into the field immediately after the brunt of the storm had passed. Their efforts to find fuel, hook up generators and repair towers had an immediate impact. Cellular South, the cellular service provider with the largest market share in the Mississippi Gulf Coast region, currently has 80 percent of its wireless network working and will have it fully restored by Monday, Sept. 12. Customers have been telling us some great stories.
For more information on any of these stories, please contact Tanya Rankin, 601-974-7134 office, 601-573-7134 cell.
- After riding out the storm, John Brown from WDAM-TV utilized his only means of communication, his Cellular South phone, to broadcast live in the Hattiesburg area.
- Cellular South network technician Bruce Utley and his family remained in their home in Biloxi, only to see it destroyed when a 50-foot oak tree crashed down on it. Thankfully no one was hurt and as soon as Bruce moved his family to a safe place, he got on the road to start generators at the company’s cell sites. He was frequently flagged down by victims of the storm who asked to use his phone, and one man in Gulfport even offered him cash to use the phone, which Utley refused, and let him use the phone for free.
- Another Cellular South service technician who lives in Bay St. Louis got to our store on Highway 90 shortly after the hurricane and dug through the rubble to find phones and batteries to hand out to people so they could communicate.
- A Cellular South customer, Kyle Hill, who is with the North East Lamar Fire Department, along with other relief personnel was based at Oak Grove High School west of Hattiesburg. His was the only phone in the group that worked. Cellular South contacted him to see if anyone needed emergency phones and was able to get phones there that day (Sept. 2). Altogether the company has donated more than 500 phones to emergency personnel in the Mississippi Gulf Coast region.
- The publisher of the Ocean Springs Record in Ocean Springs, Miss. said if he had not had Cellular South service, he would not have been able to publish the paper last week. And it is a vital source of information for his community, especially during the crisis. His printer is located in Hattiesburg, but he could not reach them, so he used his cell phone call his brother in Texas. His brother helped him to arrange to print the paper there.
- The grandmother of a Cellular South employee never used a cell phone, but had one as back-up. The hurricane snapped the phone line at her home in Brookhaven, and the family became increasingly anxious when they couldn’t reach her. When one member thought to call her on the cell phone, she picked up, and that phone has been her only means of communication with any one out of town for the past week. She’s become such a pro that some family members are thinking of buying her a PDA.
About Cellular South
The company is the largest privately held wireless provider in the U.S. and is licensed to provide wireless service – to a total population of more than five million people – on its network stretching from the Memphis Metropolitan Area, throughout all of Mississippi, along Coastal Alabama and the Florida Panhandle through Walton County. The company has been named Mississippi Business Journal’s Salute to Business and Industry 2005 Large Retailer. For more information, contact Cellular South at 1-877-CSOUTH1 or visit cellularsouth.com.
Contact:
Tanya Rankin, Cellular South (601) 974-7134 trankin@cellularsouth.com
