[Satellite News 09-02-08] Increased preparation in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 paid off in the buildup to Hurricane Gustav, as satellite-based communications for emergency and first responder were ready in the case of another major loss of terrestrial services.
    In response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005, many mobile satellite service providers beefed up their services to the Gulf Coast.
    In February 2007, Mobile Satellite Ventures (MSV) provided expanded services to its existing customers, including the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency, the Louisiana Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the American Red Cross. the Mississippi Department of Health and the Federal Aviation Administration also contacted MSV to work with partners in Mexico and Canada to obtain additional terminals.
    During summer 2007, MSV worked with the Louisiana Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness to establish and maintain the Gulf States Mutual Aid Radio Talkgroup (G-SMART) to manage two-way radio over satellite communications in a five-state region (Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida) as well as Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
    MSV’s emergency communication services were used by local government agencies, the National Guard, FEMA and others to stay in contact as Gustav approached the U.S. Gulf Coast, MSV spokesman Tom Surface told Satellite News. “This time, emergency and public safety organizations were armed with equipment and know-how to deploy and operate the systems,” he said.
    From MSV’s Reston headquarters and network operations center in Ottawa, the MSV emergency communications team worked throughout the weekend activating new equipment, moving talkgroups to responder’s MSV devices and conducting long-distance refresher training in MSV satellite communications, Surface said. MSV also provided loaners units to several critical agencies deploying to the region. 
    “The public safety personnel in the Gulf States were also able to conduct interoperable communications with the nationwide SMART talkgroup managed by the Department of Justice as well as the neighboring 12-state Southeast SMART talkgroup — a regional group that encompasses various federal, state and local public safety organizations throughout the Southeast” United States, he said.
    MSV was not the only service provider ready for the storm. Iridium and Inmarsat also made sure their systems were ready.
    Inmarsat released a statement Aug. 31 outlining how its Broadband Global Area Network (BGAN) prepared for Gustav. Significant increases were being made to BGAN channel allocations and separate increased capacity also was implemented for some of Inmarsat’s other services such as Global Area Network.
    Iridium spokeswoman Liz DeCastro said that since Katrina, the company’s partners are more educated on how to use emergency communications. “We have remained proactive with our communications and we were especially busy on Friday before Labor Day weekend,” said DeCastro. “We put out alerts to the Department of Defense and our government customers stating that we have the equipment if they need it. We also sent out an alert reminding customers to test their satellite phones to make sure they were working before the storm hit.”
    Iridium record service activations Aug. 29 with higher traffic than what was reported during Hurricane Katrina or 9/11. "We believe, in many cases, the increase was due to first responders testing their phones in preparation for Gustav," said DeCastro. "Usage and active subscribers in the affected areas, such as Louisiana and Texas, doubled in the last week."
    DeCastro said that Iridium also saw significant pickup of their services post-Katrina. “The storm opened up a lot of eyes, so we had a window of opportunity in terms of educating our partners on the power of satellite communications when all else fails,” she said.