TSF was in Madrid from June 7th to 10th 2012. Our organisation was requested by the Vodafone Foundation to provide its technical expertise and experience in emergency telecommunications within the framework of a four-day training for the benefit of new Vodafone volunteers who were trained in the deployment of the Instant Network solution*.

In the presence of the Vodafone Spain CEO and the Director of the Vodafone Foundation, TSF donated two VSAT kits (one KA Tooway kit and one KU VSAT kit) to the Spanish Red Cross for its humanitarian activities and made a commitment to deploy to assist the Red Cross in any emergency situation.

During the four days, TSF provided crucial technical support and advice to the trainees. TSF installed two dishes (VSATs) and provided the satellite backhaul connectivity to Instant Network.

Within the framework of its mission, TSF was also in charge of:

- Presenting Télécoms Sans Frontières to the participants, its role and the importance of telecoms in emergency situations
- Carrying out the hands-on sessions and simulation exercise of a disaster response situation (how to organise and manage a humanitarian calling operation in emergency using mobile phones and satellite phones and how to set up a humanitarian telecom centre to support aid agencies on the ground).

Participants were trained by TSF on the installation, configuration and utilization of mobile satellite solutions (BGANs and Isatphones). TSF also introduced them to the practice of VSAT technology (KA Tooway and KU VSAT). TSF also provided process for satellite connectivity activation in emergencies.

Within the framework of its emergency mission in Kenya, TSF participated in a training organized by the Kenya Red Cross. Between the 2nd and 4th May 2012 in Nairobi, TSF experts provided the satellite backhaul connection for the Instant Network solution, and gave an overview of the systems to participants (Safaricom, Huawei and Kenya Red Cross).

TSF donated one KU VSAT kit to the Kenya Red Cross.

*Instant Network

Télécoms Sans Frontières participated in the development of Vodafone Instant Network. The solution was tested in a real-life situation for the first time by TSF and the Vodafone Foundation in November 2010, in the Spanish Pyrenees; an area with low mobile network coverage. Instant Network was then deployed for a field trial, in May 2011, in the isolated community of Barsaloi, in Centre Kenya (291km north from Nairobi, Samburu district). TSF and Vodafone offered telecom services to local organisations and the local community, in collaboration with the satellite provider Eutelsat and the Kenyan mobile operator Safaricom. Since then, TSF has participated in several deployments of Instant Network, with always the provision of satellite backhaul connectivity and training: in Kaikor South Sudan/Kenya border in February 2012, and in Nairobi in May 2012.