Mobile phones become vital Haiti lifeline

The Trilogy-owned Voila mobile phone network lost staff in the quake and its headquarters were damaged. Photo / Supplied

Trilogy's investment in Haiti, Voila, has confirmed that five of its workforce of around 575 died in the earthquake, with 51 more missing.

"It's hard to appreciate the commitment of our employees, most of whom have come to work every day since the quake," says Trilogy chairman John Stanton.

Since 1999 Trilogy has been one of two companies operating a national mobile network in Haiti.

Stanton says less than 1 per cent of the country's nine million people have access to landlines. For most the only source of communication is the roughly three million mobile phones.

Limited infrastructure and the complete lack of a power grid means every cell tower requires its own power generator. A 45,000-litre fuel tank crushed in the earthquake was the only reason mobile services were interrupted.

"We had been on the air pretty much continuously since the earthquake with the exception of a period of time which we ran out of fuel because of a rupture in a fuel line." Stanton says the company has played a role providing communications to the relief effort.