At a September 30, 2026, SCTE TechExpo session, Liberty Latin America executives said advance planning and pre-positioned Starlink terminals helped restore Jamaican mobile sites after Hurricane Melissa. The satellite service provided backhaul—the connection carrying traffic from a cell site to the wider network—while crews worked to restore damaged infrastructure.
How Starlink backhaul supported the recovery
Liberty said it had tested low-Earth-orbit satellite broadband for cell-site backhaul before the storm. The company also staged network configurations, positioned terminals in advance and trained crews. Generators had to be running before crews could bring affected sites back online, and Liberty said it kept Starlink terminals at cell sites as backup.
Mario Rueda, a Liberty Latin America senior manager for transport implementation and operations, put a typical terminal installation at two hours. That was an estimate for installation, not a site-restoration time. Rueda also described the value of restoring communications for families who had been isolated for days.
Two snapshots of Jamaica’s mobile-network recovery
Liberty said 558 of its 780 Jamaican 4G sites were down after the storm. Its later reports showed fewer sites offline as the recovery progressed:
| Recovery snapshot | Sites with Starlink terminals | Liberty 4G sites offline (of 780) |
| About one month after the storm | 163 | 195 |
| About two months after the storm | 277 | 73 |
Direct to Cell was a separate initiative
The cell-site terminals provided backhaul for mobile sites. Liberty’s separate Direct to Cell announcement concerned connectivity for FLOW Jamaica customers. On October 29, 2025, Liberty said those customers had access to essential data, SMS and text communications over Starlink’s satellite network, using spectrum approved by Jamaican authorities.
