18 May 2018

Members of the satellite community have signed contribution agreements with the UN World Food Programme (WFP) on behalf of the Emergency Telecommunications Cluster (ETC), stepping up their commitment to support global disaster relief. 

The agreements are the final steps in operationalising the Crisis Connectivity Charter signed in 2015 between the EMEA Satellite Operators Association, Global VSAT Forum, the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Aid, and the ETC. 

Signatories from the satellite industry include Arabsat, Eutelsat, Global Eagle, Hispasat, Inmarsat, Intelsat, SES, Thuraya and Yahsat.

They have pledged to help the humanitarian community by greatly enhancing their access to vital satellite-based communications when local networks are affected, destroyed or overloaded following disasters. 

Under the agreement, the companies are now committing satellite equipment and capacity that will be dedicated for humanitarian purposes during emergency responses.

Donated equipment will be stored in humanitarian depots located on three continents while pre-allocated bandwidth will cover all regions of the globe.

The ETC, under the global leadership of the WFP, will be able to activate the charter when disaster strikes, and identify which pre-planned solutions are immediately available for any given region and need in order to meet a 24-hour deployment timeline after a crisis.

Charter signatories have also provided training and capacity building for WFP and ETC partners’ field-staff on the installation and use of the satellite equipment to be deployed.