Communications and technology provider Liberty Caribbean, part of Liberty Latin America, has announced a partnership with satellite communications company Starlink to support emergency communications on the storm-hit island of Jamaica.

Liberty Caribbean has said it will utilise spectrum approved by the country's Spectrum Management Authority and the Ministry of Energy, Transport, and Telecommunications to collaborate with Starlink Direct to Cell to provide emergency connectivity for Liberty Caribbean customers in the event that its terrestrial networks are severely affected.

Inge Smidts, CEO of Liberty Caribbean, explains: “Our Flow Essential service will provide basic connectivity immediately. This innovation will provide emergency mobile connectivity via satellite and facilitates SMS and text communications to areas affected by the passage of Hurricane Melissa.” Flow is the name of Liberty’s mobile voice and data services provider in the country.

This partnership, described as the first of its kind in Jamaica, sees a traditional telecommunications operator collaborating with a satellite communications provider to deliver seamless connectivity direct to mobile customers enabling them to send text and essential messaging to their family and friends when local mobile network infrastructure is unavailable. 

However, ensuring emergency connectivity – and any connectivity for non-Flow subscribers (Digicel is the other service provider) – won’t be easy. An estimated 75% of the country has been without electricity overnight, affecting power or phone coverage. 

BBC reports suggest that this is the strongest storm to hit the Caribbean island in modern history. Hurricane Melissa, as it is known, hit the island's southern coast with maximum sustained winds of 295km/h – the strongest on Earth so far this year. Additional rainfall is causing flooding and landslides.

The country's prime minister, Andrew Holness, has declared the island a disaster area.