Katrina damage could cost BellSouth $600M

Network World - BellSouth Corp. says the cost of damage to its network from Hurricane Katrina could reach $600 million.
The carrier, which serves a nine-state region in the Southeast -- including the hurricane-ravaged states of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama -- said it lost 810,000 lines, roughly half of the 1.7 million lines BellSouth has in service in the area. BellSouth also said 19 of the 131 central offices in the Gulf Coast area were disabled.
Those 19 central offices serve 187,000 access lines, 166,000 of which are in the devastated city of New Orleans. Restoration plans for those central offices are now in development, BellSouth said.
Service to most customers will be restored within 30 days, the carrier said, though some communities may take longer to restore, depending on when residents and businesses are able to return to those areas and the time needed to rebuild local infrastructure.
New Orleans, with floodwaters that may take months to recede, is "an atypical situation," the carrier said, and BellSouth will track restoration activity there separately. The telecom is prioritizing service restoration for those customers involved with public safety concerns and relief efforts. Wireless service restoration is also a priority.
"Our overall restoration activities are ongoing, and we are making good progress daily," BellSouth Chief Technology Officer Bill Smith said in a statement.
The carrier said it is too early to project the total magnitude of destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina. But based on the information currently available and without the opportunity to survey and physically assess the entire area, BellSouth's initial estimate is a cost of $400 million to $600 million, including both capital and expense, for network restoration.
BellSouth has about 13,000 employees in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, 6,500 of whom are in the areas hardest hit by Katrina. BellSouth has set up "tent cities" in Baton Rouge and Covington, La., and in Gulfport, Hattiesburg and Jackson, Miss., to provide food, shelter, clothing, financial support and employee assistance programs for those workers.
An additional location will be established this week in Kenner, La. The cities will serve as deployment areas for BellSouth technicians and engineers who will be sent back into affected areas to restore service for customers.