Latin America Technical Assistance Center: The 24-Hour Online Guardians of Communication

Caring and connecting - the ever-present trouble-shooters

Natural disasters are a painful reality in Latin America. From hurricanes to floods, the continent regularly faces a range of extreme weather events. But even as engineers rush to the front lines, there is also a calm, professional, and always-on group of specialists behind the scenes helping to rapidly restore communication services.

This is Huawei's Latin America Regional Technical Assistance Center team. Based in Queretaro, Mexico, the 200+ experts are a vital part of Huawei's global technical support system. They serve more than 50+ Latin American countries and regions and are responsible for maintaining communication networks for millions of people. From product assistance to spare parts services to one-stop technical support, it’s a 24/7 presence.

Victor Gutierrez, the Mexico TAC expert, has been helping customers for 14 years. He says it’s about offering emotional support as much as addressing technical complexities. "The center was established to solve problems. When customers call, they are often anxious and in a hurry. In the face of various natural disasters, they not only suffer financial losses, but also the inability to contact their families."

The team regard technical support as a form of "positive service attitude," and want customers to know that they are not talking to a cold machine, but to someone who genuinely cares about the stability of their network.

Our call center is available 24 hours a day to listen to customer issues and provide professional advice.

From "Firefighters" to "Proactive Problem Solvers"

In the face of Latin America’s frequent natural disasters, the technical center's service philosophy has undergone a critical upgrade since 2013: shifting from a reactive to a proactive maintenance response. And from 2020, more intelligent technology such as AI has been incorporated into the work to make the responses smarter.

Victor says the team understands the Latin American environment and adapts rapidly to demand. "We have taken one step further, predicting and preventing problems in advance." Now, when hurricanes or heavy rains are approaching, the center does not wait for customers to call for help. Special teams conduct advance health checks on networks in potentially affected areas, identify risks, and perform necessary upgrades. Through data analysis, they help customers to "see potential risks" and implement measures before problems occur. This proactive approach has greatly improved the reliability of networks, adding an extra layer of communication resilience.

Natural disasters cannot be stopped. But the continuous dedication of these behind-the-scenes engineers offers local people the hope that they’ll be able to make those emergency calls when they need them most.

The spare parts team discuss how to allocate key component resources.

Stories of Communication Restoration in Different Countries

Mexico: On October 10, tropical storms hit multiple areas in Mexico, causing severe flood-damage to communication facilities. Huawei engineers drove for 18 hours straight to reach the site and within 24 hours completed the power-up of equipment, restoring basic communication services.

Jamaica: At the end of October, Hurricane Melissa, a Category 5 storm, caused devastating destruction in Jamaica. In its wake, Huawei worked swiftly with the operator to help repair over 300 sites.

Argentina: On March 7, the city of Puerto Blanco in Argentina was hit by torrential rain, flooding the city's power grid and some of its data centers. Huawei and the customer urgently established an emergency response task force, and dispatched engineers with spare parts to the sites, restoring data center facilities.