Inmarsat-sponsored Télécoms Sans Frontières (TSF) is providing calls and internet access to families in Dominica who have been cut off from outside communication since category five Hurricane Maria hit on 19 September.
Due to the sheer scale of the disaster, the NGO agency has set up a new pilot service to enable people in remote villages to access high-speed Wi-Fi via Inmarsat’s Global Xpress service.
Travelling from village to village, TSF is providing residents with access to social media, messaging apps and news sites via a GX Explorer 3075 terminal, to help them contact relatives and loved ones abroad and inform them of their situation.
IsatPhone 2 in use by TSF
In addition, TSF is providing IsatPhone 2 satellite calls for those who have not been able to charge their own devices due to lack of electricity. To date 604 people have been connected via calling operations and 138 unique terminals connected to GX broadband services.
Having covered villages in the east of the country – Vieille Case and Thibaud – the team will concentrate on the south east of the country over the coming days, visiting Rosalie, Grand Fond, La Plaine, Boetica and Delices to provide Wi-Fi and calling operations.
