AT&T said on Sunday that it was making “significant progress” in its efforts to restore cell service to customers in Nashville, Tennessee, after an explosion seriously damaged its city facilities on Christmas morning.
A company update posted on its website indicates that cleaning crews are still pumping water from the lower floors of the facility, which suffered major damage after a trailer exploded outside the building on Friday, which officials said they had been an “intentional act”.
“We are bringing in additional resources to support the recovery of voice and data services from fixed telephony and we hope to have a fleet of 24 additional trailers of disaster recovery equipment in place by the end of the day,” the company said in a statement.
“We continue to assess the damage to the facility and confirm that the building’s commercial power connections are damaged and disconnected,” the statement said.
Tennessean reported that several first aid agencies, including the Nashville police department, use AT&T as their commercial service provider and saw telephone service drop on Friday when the explosion occurred. AT&T has deployed a series of mobile cell service towers to provide service in the city while working to restore the company’s normal capabilities.
Interruptions have been reported in Tennessee for days. Some reported that the service is returning, while others are still experiencing slow or no access to the company’s network.
AT&T service interruptions continue after the Nashville morning blast pic.twitter.com/jrLcdYXBUl
– James Spann (@spann) December 25, 2020
State and federal agencies are collaborating in the investigation of the explosion, but have not yet released any information about the suspect or the reason for the explosion.
On Saturday, federal agents were seen searching a house in Antioch, Tennessee, allegedly in connection with the explosion.