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Nepal Earthquake: Vodafone deploys portable mobile network in affected areas

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VoicenData Bureau
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Vodafone deploys instant network equipment

NEW DELHI: The Vodafone Foundation Instant Network Mini, a portable ‘mobile network in a backpack’, has been taken to the Kathmandu Valley in Nepal to help restore communications to some of the areas worse affected by last weekend’s earthquake.

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The Instant Network Mini, an 11kg mobile network in a backpack which can be set up in just 10 minutes, has arrived in Kathmandu with the Instant Network team leader on a commercial flight, a company statement said.

The Instant Network team will offer support to local operators to help re-establish mobile communications, helping aid workers communicate during the relief effort and enabling people to contact their kins.

The Vodafone Foundation has a team of volunteers, all Vodafone employees, on standby to deploy additional Instant Network equipment, including the larger, 100kg Vodafone Foundation Instant Network - a mobile network in four suitcases which can be taken on a commercial flight - as well as a new 3G version of the Instant Network.

The team, working alongside NGO Télécoms Sans Frontières, is currently awaiting instruction from the local operators and NGOs working in Nepal as to when and where the equipment should be deployed. The equipment will be deployed once the scope of the mission is confirmed.

Andrew Dunnett, Vodafone Foundation Director, said: “Establishing communications in the aftermath of a natural disaster is crucial, both for the coordination of aid and to enable those affected to reconnect with family and friends. Through our Instant Network programme, we are able to deploy our people and our technology to provide communications support at a critical time.”

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