[Satellite Today – 1-18-08] Inmarsat said Jan. 17 that its Broadband Global Area Network (BGAN) services are being deployed to support frontline disaster prevention in Nicaragua on a permanent basis.

 Inmarsat-sponsored emergency communications agency Télécoms Sans Frontières is supplying BGAN equipment and training to the Nicaraguan authorities in an initiative funded by the European Union (EU). Three Thrane & Thrane Explorer 500 BGAN terminals are being deployed by the Nicaraguan government for use in the country’s northern Atlantic autonomous region.

Inmarsat’s work in Nicaragua has come about as a result of Hurricane Felix, which struck the country in September destroying 8,000 homes, affecting more than 200,000 people and claiming about 300 lives.