TSF: Continued partnership contract will provide full satellite connectivity during critical missions

11 April 2012

Vizada,  has just renewed its partnership contract with Télécoms Sans Frontières (TSF), pledging to continue satellite communications support for their many missions across the world.

TSF, the leading international non-governmental organization specialized in emergency telecommunications, participates in disaster and emergency relief operations around the world by providing people in distress with a means of communication. During their medical relief operation in Syria in March 2012, Vizada provided the airtime for voice communications and IsatPhone Pro satellite phones.

TSF set up a logistical telecom support to facilitate the repatriation of wounded civilians from conflict areas, and the supply of medicine to the besieged towns of Syria. The onsite team insured the distribution of communication means for several medical structures and provided training to help medical staff. Vizada provided satphones along with airtime which were essential in providing reliable communications in these difficult conditions.

In addition to the aid provided for the crisis in Syria, TSF has used Vizada mobile satellite services for numerous missions throughout their partnership. In 2011, a particularly challenging year for humanitarian relief centers, TSF was supported by Vizada on seven deployments in emergencies. Missions ranged from providing emergency telecommunications connections to affected populations and emergency responders in Libya, to supporting telecommunication assessments and providing ICT services in July in Kenya when the Horn of Africa was hit by one of the most severe droughts in its history and in October after the devastating floods in Thailand and El Salvador and after the earthquake in Turkey. In March 2011, a TSF team was deployed to Tokyo to determine an action plan following the earthquake and tsunami damage in Japan.

At the outbreak of the conflict in Libya, TSF and Vizada provided support for refugees fleeing the country, enabling 30,550 families to make a total of 40,348 humanitarian calls to 115 destinations worldwide (using Vizada provided satellite phones such as Inmarsat’s IsatPhone Pro) from la Chucha camp on the Tunisian-Libyan border.

“It has always been crucial for TSF to use the most up-to-date and appropriate on-site solutions and to employ the latest technologies and devices. That is why TSF has relied on Vizada’s services for the past 14 years and will continue to use them systematically for all our operations,” said Jean-François Cazenave, President of TSF. “2011 marks the deployment of the Inmarsat IsatPhone Pro handset on our emergency missions. Vizada’s solutions form an integral part of our efforts in aiding affected populations and humanitarian organizations following a natural disaster or conflict.”

TSF has relied on Vizada’s support since its foundation in 1998. Vizada also supplies mobile satellite services to a number of NGOs including Médecins sans Frontières, International Red Cross, United Nations organizations, and the United States Army Corps of Engineers.