Cliff Saran interviews Fabien Doléac of Telecoms Sans
Frontières(TSF), who has recently returned from Mozambique where he
setup a telecommunication centre.
Doléac set up a BGAN satellite phone which was used to allow
people affected by severe flooding to talk to relatives and loved
ones.
There was no electricity on site and the Doléac and the crew fom
TSF had to use a car battery and home-made power connections to
provide power to the communications equipment.
Over 258,000 Mozambicans were affected by the heavy floods in
2007 and 2008. Doléac previously went over to support the relief
effort after the
2007 flooding where he was part of a TSF crew sent out to install
three communication centres in Caia, Mutarara and Mopeia. Each
centre was equipped with Internet access, laptops and voice
communications using VHF radio equipment.
A graduate in telecommunications, Doléac has worked at TSF for
the last 18 months. Prior to Mozambique,his first mission was
setting up a telecommunications centre in Nicaragua.
For more information on projects like this, see:
UN Foundation
partnership with the Vodafone Group Foundation.