Télécoms Sans Frontiéres (Telecoms Without Borders) arrived in Iraq last week. TSF plans to open telecom centers in Baghdad and, as security conditions improve, they hope to deploy mobile telecom teams all over the country.

TSF’s aim is to restore communications for non-governmental organizations (NGOs), hospitals and the local population, using Inmarsat mobile satellite communication systems.

Iraqis in Ar-Rutbah, a town with a population of 17,000 on the road to Baghdad, were the first to benefit from the TSF mission. The team will head next to Baghdad where it will work in partnership with the Joint NGO Emergency Preparedness Initiative for Iraq (JNEPI), a group of 5 NGOs, which include Save the Children, International Medical Corps, International Rescue Committee, World Vision and Mercy Corps. The telecom center set up with JNEPI will be open to all organizations working for the reconstruction of the country. It will offer phone, fax, e-mail, Internet and video-conference facilities.

Télécoms Sans Frontiéres focuses on the new concept of humanitarian aid called “humane telephony.” TSF is always ready to intervene anywhere in the world, in order to make it possible for the population to say, quite simply, “I am alive.” TSF receives some of its financial support from Inmarsat Ltd. Since May 2000, Inmarsat has been investing one million French francs per annum in TSF. Samer Halawi, regional director, Middle East & Africa, Inmarsat, spoke about the role Inmarsat will have in Iraqi reconstruction.

“During the war in Iraq there was heavy reliance on Inmarsat for different reasons, but mainly for international media. We all saw how many journalists were using the videophone. It was actually creating some congestion on our network. Inmarsat switched on a spare satellite and directed it to cover the region. This was basically to offer global air network (GAN) services, which is basically the videophone,” Halawi said.

“Now after the war,” he continued, “use of our services will be less from the media and more from NGOs helping people communicate with their loved ones outside Iraq or for humanitarian relief efforts. In addition, all the companies and organizations that come into Iraq for the reconstruction efforts will, at least initially, turn to Inmarsat for communications. There really is no proper communications infrastructure in Iraq, so until the terrestrial infrastructure is rebuilt, there will be heavy dependence on satellite communications.”

Halawi explained that companies and NGOs planning to carry out operations in Iraq, should be aware that they must set themselves up with telecom equipment and satellite connectivity from providers outside Iraq.

“How Inmarsat traditionally works is that we have a network of over 260 global partners and those consist of land-earth stations which are first-line customers, and then our service providers which are the second-line customers. We don’t have any service providers based in Iraq, but there are a number of service providers in countries surrounding Iraq, which are offering the service there,” Halawi said.

“So the Inmarsat service is being purchased before people actually go into Iraq. We expect that telecom services will be restored to Baghdad first, but it will take quite a while before telephone services are restored to Iraq’s rural areas.”