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Telecom Partnership Brings Voice Services Back to Puerto Rico

  By Maurice Nagle, Web Editor

Hurricane season was not kind to telecom infrastructure in Puerto Rico this year, and communications providers are left picking up the pieces. Fortunately, partnerships are driving a phase of recovery in “Island of Enchantment,” breathing life back into tropical paradise.

This week, Puerto Rican Telecom Service Provider Natural G.C. and global distributor Pulse Supply selected TelcoBridges (News - Alert), and its Tmedia VoIP gateways to aid in restoring telecom infrastructure from Hurricane Maria’s destruction.    

“The solution provided by Pulse (News - Alert) Supply using TelcoBridges’ TMG800 addressed the SS7 interconnection issues that we faced prior to the hurricane,” said Natural G.C.’s Crucito Marrero. “The connection came up on the first day and it has been up ever since. We’re continuing to collaborate together to maintain, and to extend the quality of voice and data services across all of Puerto Rico.”

While the island was in need of telecom infrastructure previous to the storm, Hurricane Maria accelerated the upgrade calendar. High winds laid waste to its above ground infrastructure. So for some time, businesses and residents were struggling to communicate across the island as well as internationally.  

“Natural G.C. is focused on providing the best telecommunications services for Puerto Ricans and we are proud to help make this possible,” said Gary Glasgall, Regional Director for Pulse Supply.    

Natural G.C. went, well, natural with solar power to support its systems, in pairing with TelcoBridges and Pulse Supply was able to get voice services back online rapidly.  The carrier-grade TelcoBridges Tmedia VoIP gateway enabled interconnect between Puerto Rico’s carrier and Natural G.C. via SS7 protocol.

 “The solution provided by Pulse Supply allows Natural G.C. to cost-effectively perform TDM-to-SIP interconnections with other carriers throughout Puerto Rico, and the Tmedia gateways add capacity while also making their networks more reliable,” said Gaetan Campeau (News - Alert), CEO of TelcoBridges. “We’re happy to have played a role in this project, which we think will bring ongoing enhancements to communications services across Puerto Rico.”

Cleaning up after catastrophe is always a challenge, in telecom it’s important to be surrounded with good partners to come back as strong as ever.