ITU Deploys Satellite Comm Infra in Earthquake Damage Areas

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has deployed 50 satellite terminals in Peru to help restore vital communication links in remote and underserved areas affected by the earthquake that hit the country last month, ITU said in a statement.

According to the ITU, this infrastructure is critical for coordinating relief work.

"We take very seriously the role of telecommunications in mitigating disasters," ITU's telecommunication development bureau director Sami Al Basheer Al Morshid said.

"Whenever a country is affected by a disaster, we quickly mobilize and dispatch transportable telecommunications resources that can be used for general communications purposes by government authorities and to provide e-services such as telemedicine that are crucial for saving human lives," he added.

ITU transported and deployed all of the terminals and will pay for the airtime for using this infrastructure.

Twelve of the terminals are global area network (GAN) terminals and 38 are regional broadband global network satellite terminals (RBGAN).

GAN terminals are capable of providing voice, data and video services while RBGAN terminals provide high-speed data communications.

Posted to the site on 10th September 2007