SATPHONESL: Small is Beautiful

The Kargil war, the Orissa cyclone, and the Kandahar hijacking had one similarity–the use of satellite phones for communication. In all these cases, the satellite phone was used for faster dissemination of information and also helped in speeding up the decision making process once the ground realities were known in the places totally cut off in terms of communication. During Kargil war, it was the Indian jawans who used to call their homes from isolated places in the Drass and the Batalik sectors. In the Orissa cyclone it was used for narrating the ground realities so that appropriate measures could be taken by the government authorities to enhance the

relief measures. During Kandahar hijacking it was used for the negotiation between the

hijackers and Taliban. 

All these incidents prove that satellite phones are ideal for crisis management. Even during Y2K crisis, the crisis management teams in different industry segments were equipped with satellite phones to fight out any complications that might have arisen. Though the Y2K problem posed no major trouble as we stepped into the new millennium, it is yet to be tested how the complete year passes. Fears related to the leap year and the first eight-digit number are yet to come in 2000 which will finally prove whether Y2K was just a media hype or was it really a problem. 

Surprising it may appear, but it was a reality that Y2K was a boom time for satphone service providers. According to one estimate, around 500 handsets were used to avert the Y2K crisis in India itself. Both Nera and Iridium had their stocks exhausted in India. Due to heavy demand Iridium had to discontinue and divert their satphone rental service from the Taj Group of Hotels to the corporates who bought these handsets to give their crisis management team a communication tool to be relied on.

As these systems were new, proper care was taken to make it Y2K compatible. These systems, bought for Y2K, would be of great help in the future for providing efficient relief measures also. 

Lot of public sector organizations bought satellite phones for Y2K, PCO applications, and disaster recovery. A look into the applications will say how different public sector organizations have started using the best technology marvel present in the world in the best possible way. Most of the applications are unique in the sense that only satellite phones can help these companies to come out of the typical problems–in the most efficient manner. 

National Hydroelectric Power Corporation Ltd (NHPC) has many hydroelectric plants located in remote places where it is difficult to provide wireline communications. Due to the high-price and low-reliabilty factors of wireline communications it made good sense for the NHPC to use satellite phones at the NHPC site to communicate to the plant as well as to the head office. Satellite phones used here are not only for voice but for data communications as well. 

Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd is using satellite phones for maintenance of its power supply lines. During breakdowns, the maintenance team has the assiduous task of pinpointing the exact location of the breakdown. Once the exact location has been tracked down, it has to be conveyed to the concerned authorities for permission to shut off the supply for maintenance work. These breakdowns can happen in the remotest of locations, which are not accessible via other forms of wireline communications. Satellite phone becomes the natural choice in such circumstances. It speeds up the power restoration process by providing a tool to the rescue team to be in touch with its office. Gas Authority of India Ltd (GAIL) uses satellite phones for maintenance of its existing pipelines and for laying new pipelines in far-flung areas. The site engineer has to send daily reports to the head office about the progress made on that particular day. These daily progress reports are sent to the head office via a fax machine connected to a satellite terminal. 

Indian Railways is equipping the Accident Relief Trains (ARTs) in 11 regions with satellite phones to speed up the rescue operations. Besides that, these phones are also used in Rajdhanis for PCO applications where people can make calls from a moving train. 

Border Security Forces work in difficult terrain of Jammu & Kashmir, Rajasthan, Northeast, and Tibetan

border. These areas invariably have poor communication facilities. BSF locations and camps are equipped with satellite phones, which are used for PCO applications and its jawans use this facility to talk to their relatives and friends. These PCOs will also be installed in the Creek area of Gujarat. 

Airports’ Authority of India (AAI) was notified by International Civil 



Aviation Organization to use Inmarsat phones for Y2K bug because, at the turn of the
millennium, one was not sure of the exact vulnerability of the telecom lines to the Y2K bug. As most of the communications lines of AAI are built around DoT services–be it telephone lines or leased-lines for voice and data–it was all the more crucial to have a standby in case of failure. To meet any eventuality satellite phones were considered a dependable means of communication.

Satellite phones, primarily used for meeting eventualities arising out of the Y2K problems, turned out to be very handy communication devices for crisis management also. In the case of AAI all the area control centres have been equipped with satellite phones. During the super cyclone that hit Orissa some months ago, cutting off the Bhubaneshwar airport from the rest of the country, flights were restored with satellite phones on board. 

The AAI is also using satellite phones at the Agatti airport in Lakshadweep, as it does not have a reliable communication. The coastal areas are generally more prone to disasters. Satellite phones are once again valuable tools to meet any crisis situation in these areas.

Another example of how satphones were useful for facing the apprehended Y2K problem comes from none other than our own Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd (VSNL). It has equipped the earth stations in Jullundhar, Kanpur, Varanasi, Hyderabad, Chattarpur, and Arvi with satphones as standby devices for communications. 

Not only have satellite phones proved to be extremely useful for crises management, they have been often used in security measures for the VVIPs. 

Communications also played a crucial role during the hijack drama of IC 814 at Kandahar Airport. Communication between the two ATCs (Delhi and Kandahar), between the hijackers in IC 814 and their counterparts in Mumbai and Islamabad, and between CNN and BBC journalist in Kandahar to their

studios in US and UK was through the latest communication means available to mankind–the satphone. It made the concept of “anyplace, anytime, anywhere” a reality. The brands used were Nera and Iridium. Nera was used for transmission of voice, pictures, and data, whereas Iridium phones were used only for voice. 

The first photograph of the hijacked plane on the Kandahar tarmac would have given some respite to the anxious relatives of the hijacked passengers back in India. The photograph was transmitted through a Nera satphone to CNN studio in USA and then was telecast by CNN throughout the world.