Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ) on Sunday said it was making continual progress to restore service to its wireline customers in its Mid-Atlantic and Northeast territories even as a Barclay's analyst put Verizon's restoration costs alone at $306 million.
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New Yorkers charge devices and connect at a Verizon FiOS store on 2nd Ave. in Manhattan on Nov. 2.(Image source: Verizon) |
In Manhattan, Verizon said it was able to put a key facility on backup power following what was "unprecedented" flooding in the area. Overall, the telco said it has restored backup power to five facilities in the Manhattan area, which provide phone, Internet and TV services for consumers and SMBs in addition to data services for key business verticals such as financial service companies, other enterprises and government agencies.
Meanwhile, the telco's engineers and technicians said they are working to restore backup power to other flooded critical facilities in lower Manhattan and Queens.
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A Verizon mobile communications center deployed in Hazlet, N.J. (Image source: Verizon) |
Waiting for commercial power to be restored has hampered Verizon's efforts to restore services at a number of facilities that serve its large business customers. ConEd, the utility serving much of the New York City area, said in a Huffington Post article that it plans "to restore power to the vast majority of affected customers by the weekend of November 10 and 11."
Even though Verizon has been able to restore back up power to these facilities in the New York City, Verizon said it has to repair "heavily damaged outside facilities to bring back service."
Outside of New York City, Verizon is working round-the-clock to restore service in other hard-hit areas like Atlantic City.
To maintain backup power, Verizon has been working with local fuel suppliers and state and local government agencies to get diesel fuel for generators and repair vehicles.
In addition to restoring service, the telco's disaster recovery arm has deployed a number of vehicles and emergency shelters to help local government, public-safety and emergency management agencies at locations in Brooklyn, Long Beach, Queens and Staten Island in New York, and Hazlet, Hoboken and Ortley Beach in New Jersey.
James Ratcliffe, a Barclay's analyst, said in a Reuters article that the storm could end up costing cable operators and telcos between $550 million and $600 million in restoration and cleanup costs. Ratcliffe estimated that Sandy could cost Verizon about $306 million, up from the $180 million cost estimate he forecast for Hurricane Irene.
For more:
- see the release
- here's the Reuters article
- and here's Huffington Post's coverage
Special Coverage: Hurricane Sandy's aftermath
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