communication is broken we are paralyzed. Therefore, it is the responsibility of each country to make sure that telecommunication is available to all communities, especially during crises.
The Jakarta Post
Telecom: Not to be taken for granted Zatni Arbi, Contributor, the Jakarta Post All of us are still reeling from the impact of the "Black Sunday" tsunamis. The death toll keeps rising by the hour, and the pictures broadcast by local TV stations, CNN and others continue to haunt us. The people who live in the affected areas are totally devastated. No less miserable are people elsewhere who have been trying frantically to contact family members and friends in the affected areas to see if they survived. In normal times, calling someone across the archipelago or across the globe is not a big deal. We have come to take basic telecommunications for granted. However, when a disaster of this magnitude strikes and all lines of communications are cut off, total confusion reigns. A Red Cross article in the Dec. 28 issue of starbulletin.com tells the story of two East-West Center students from Aceh left helpless because they have been unable to contact loved ones back home. We read about similar desperate searches for those in isolated areas in newspapers, including The Jakarta Post. Some TV and radio stations have even gone out of their way to put people in touch with one another. What has all this catastrophe taught us? Telecommunication is as indispensable now as public utilities and roads. We have become used to being in constant communication with each other, and once that
Telecommunication is also needed to coordinate emergency responses. That is why Telecoms sans Frontieres (TSF) has been established as an NGO under the United Nations Working Group on Emergency Telecommunications (WGET). Its main task is to provide telecommunications in emergency situations anywhere in the world. The last time I checked www.tsfi.org, TSF teams were in Sri Lanka just one day after the disaster. They set up satellite-based telecommunication centers there to help coordinate rescue efforts and to provide a GSM network to the area. Using the most up-to-date telecommunications equipment, TSF partners with a number of operators and vendors, including Alcatel, AT&T, Cable & Wireless, Ericsson, France Telecom and Vodafone. Alcatel contributes by supplying the necessary equipment and it has also made donations. In relation to Aceh, TSF has reported that emergency telecommunication is an extreme need. Responding to this call, Alcatel Indonesia just submitted a proposal of cooperation to PT Telkom and has pledged 100,000 euro to rebuild the telecommunications infrastructure in stricken areas. Focus on developing countries It is not surprising that Alcatel was one of the first global telecom vendors to respond to this tragedy. First, it has all the required equipment and expertise, including satellite, terrestrial -- both wired and wireless -- and submarine infrastructure. Second, for many years it has focused its R&D on bringing telecom to developing areas, realizing very well that operators in developing countries have a different context than those in developed markets. 11