Lightning struck TelEm Group telecommunication equipment located on Ft. Willem Hill Wednesday night affecting mobile and internet services in the immediate area and mobile services in Saba and St. Eustatius.
The lightening struck during a particularly fierce lightning storm in Wednesday’s torrential downpour, knocking down the cell site and cutting microwave transmission to the neighbouring islands of Saba and St. Eustatius.
Due to the inaccessible location of the affected cell cite technicians could not troubleshoot the extent of the damage and could not begin repairs until early Thursday morning when the technicians also discovered that the damage had extended to cell sites in the Cole Bay Hill and Middle Region areas.
The immediate damage was to power systems attached to cell site equipment, however the lightning also fried electronic components attached to transmission equipment located at the Fort Willem cell site.
As of 6:00 p.m. Thursday evening power issues have been resolved, however repairs are continuing on transmission equipment without any indication at this stage when service will be full restored.
Some 1000 TelCell Mobile customers on Saba and a similar number on St. Eustatius are affected by the interruption in service, while on St. Maarten the downed Mt. Willem Cell site is putting a congestion load on remaining cell sites in the TelCell mobile network.
The affected cell site also distributes DSL wireless service to customers in the immediate area and this service will not be available until repairs are completed.
The repairs are expected to be restored during the course of today.
The TelEm Group is doing all it can to restore its services after its equipment was struck by lightning Wednesday evening and of course the company apologizes for what is essentially an act of God.