Satellite-based telephony provided alternative form of communication during natural disaster

To support the installation and operation of the equipment, HNS employees from the United States and from southeastern Asia have been sent to Taiwan. The HNSsupplied satellite telephony earth station terminals, TES Quantum and TES Quantum-Direct, are giving relief agencies the ability to send and receive highquality phone calls, faxes, and modem data. In addition, victims are able to use the system to contact relatives and friends around the world to inform them about their condition. "Only satellite communications can rapidly and reliably provide the complete communications system necessary to ensure that relief efforts are effective as well as provide the people of Taiwan with news about their loved ones," said KC Kuo, vice president, Satellite Networks Division, HNS.

"HNS' TES equipment is the most proven VSAT telephony system available and its multiple capabilities are giving those at the disaster sites global connectivity. Whether it's phone calls requesting information, faxes commandeering supplies, or data transmissions of maps and building plans, TES is making sure that the last thing the people in the areas destroyed by this horrific disaster have to worry about is being able to communicate." The wireless nature of satellite communications enables it to transmit data and voice communications without a landbased infrastructure such as copper or fiber-optic cables, making it the only feasible means of communicating to and from remote areas and in areas where terrestrial and microwave communications have been devastated.

The TES Quantum gateway station is connecting calls from the disaster areas to the public switched telephony network (PSTN) and routing them globally through Chung Hwa's hub in Panciao.