TSF, Inmarsat provide telecom aid in Philippines

Telecom aid group Télécoms Sans Frontières (TSF) is deploying Inmarsat mobile satellite services in the Philippines to assist with emergency efforts in the nation.

The satellite services are being provided to medics and emergency first responders in areas ravaged by super typhoon Haiyan.

Inmarsat, a global satellite services provider and a TSF sponsor, revealed it has been prioritising traffic to and from the Philippines since the disaster struck.

Inmarsat engineers and network controllers are also working 24/7 with TSF and its workers on the ground to restore communications in hard-hit areas.

Inmarsat sat phones have been provided to the Philippines’ Ministry for Home Affairs and National Security, and TSF is working with the Philippines Department of Health to restore broadband access for health workers at the General Hospital in the city of Tacloban.

TSF is also providing satellite broadband connection to the ground teams of UN agencies Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination (UNDAC).

Optus and parent company SingTel last week revealed they are providing 150 satellite phones for emergency communications in the nation. Optus had also been offering postpaid customers free calls to the Philippines up until midnight on Sunday.

Pictured: A TSF team member contacts HQ on arrival at Tacloban Airport.