Communications companies adjusted their services after a tornado...
Communications companies adjusted their services after a tornado this week hit Moore, Okla. Verizon committed $100,000 in grants for disaster relief and said it will match any workers’ donations to the American Red Cross and Salvation Army, from $25 to…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Timely, relevant coverage of court proceedings and agency rulings involving tariffs, classification, valuation, origin and antidumping and countervailing duties. Each day, Trade Law Daily subscribers receive a daily headline email, in-depth PDF edition and access to all relevant documents via our trade law source document library and website.
$1,000 per worker (http://vz.to/Z02bEf). “We are coordinating with local authorities and bringing in additional resources,” AT&T Oklahoma President Bryan Gonterman said in a statement. “We recommend text messaging for communications with family, friends and loved ones given heavy call volumes. Also, in an effort to help Oklahomans impacted by the tragic tornado, we are waiving voice, data and text overage charges through June 30 for customers in the affected areas.” AT&T customers can also text REDCROSS to 90999 to donate $10, which will be added to their bills. Verizon Wireless will “waive overage charges for voice, data and text use in the interim for customers on limited usage plans who have had to turn to their wireless service as their only means of communications in the disaster,” the carrier said (http://vz.to/10Q17Dq). T-Mobile also boosted its network and tried to help in other ways, it said (http://t-mo.co/194Qe4c). “Since commercial power continues to be a challenge in the area, we have equipped several of our retail stores to provide charging solutions, and we invite anyone in the community to come in and charge their phones or other devices,” T-Mobile said. It also set up opportunities for its customers to donate by texting and deployed cell-sites-on-light-trucks and cells-on-wheels to boost the network. Sprint Nextel moved its emergency response team to Moore shortly after the tornado to give any responders and officials mobile devices and reliable voice and data networks, a spokeswoman said. Sprint gives over half a million dollars to the Red Cross annually, she said, referring to it as a reliable funding base for such disasters. The company is also redirecting some of the 11,600 lunches, which its Kansas City area workers had prepared days earlier, to Oklahoma, she said. Sprint is also “proactively waiving overage charges for voice, text and data for Sprint services between now and June 30,” it said in a news release (http://bit.ly/10U3aDv), and will give discounts in certain Oklahoma retail stores, the spokeswoman said. The Federal Emergency Management Agency provided “self-sustaining telecommunications” as part of its aid, it said (http://1.usa.gov/16OAMtO).