A roundup of what some of satellite companies are doing to help in the disaster recovery efforts in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

Telenor Satellite Services

Telenor Satellite Services and Global Relief Technologies (GRT) announced the two companies have joined forces to provide rapid data management collection capabilities and mobile satellite communications to elements of the 2^nd U.S. Marine Expeditionary Force and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which are assisting victims of Hurricane Katrina. The equipment and satellite communications service provides the Marines and FEMA with the ability to immediately collect and transmit critical data with exact GPS coordinates using ruggedized personal digital assistants and laptop-sized satellite terminals to the GRT virtual network operations center. The reports are then immediately forwarded to rescue and response command operations centers.

Globalstar

Globalstar announced it has deployed more than 10,000 handheld satellite phones to customers in the Gulf region, primarily to government agencies and relief workers, within the first week following the Aug. 29 landfall of Hurricane Katrina. Globalstar said it increased the capacity of its satellite network to ensure continued communications service to the region.

XM Satellite Radio

XM Satellite Radio announced Sept. 7 the launching of “Red Cross Radio,” a station developed in cooperation with the American Red Cross designed to provide help and information for Hurricane Katrina victims, Red Cross staff and volunteers along the Gulf Coast and other Red Cross workers across the country.

Red Cross Radio (XM Channel 248) is airing regular updates on relief efforts in the Gulf Coast, as well as sites where victims have been relocated to receive Red Cross assistance. Listeners can find out how to receive help and how to contribute to the relief efforts. XM said it is donating radios to the Red Cross for relief workers, shelters and aid stations.

EMS Technologies Inc.

EMS Technologies Inc. said it is supplying communications hardware to support restoring communications. Three of the company’s divisions, EMS Satcom, EMS Satellite Networks and EMS Wireless, have responded with either mobile satellite communications equipment or with wireless infrastructure equipment to restore cell phone coverage in the stricken areas.

Stratos Global Corp. And Inmarsat

Stratos Global Corp. is teaming with Inmarsat to provide free satellite-based communications services to allow victims of Hurricane Katrina and relief workers providing assistance in the area to contact family and loved ones. Stratos will deploy a mobile communications headquarters equipped with Inmarsat GAN (Global Areas Network) and mini-M mobile satellite terminals to areas impacted by the storm and to the staging areas where relief workers are concentrated. The GAN system also will provide Internet, data, video and fax services to support relief efforts. Stratos is supplying mobile satellite services to customers who are providing relief and recovery to Hurricane Katrina victims, including FEMA, American Red Cross, U.S. Navy, U.S. Coast Guard and a number of U.S. federal government agencies.

Eagle Broadband

Eagle Broadband said it provided its Satmax non-line-of-sight satellite communications technology at no cost to the U.S. Army, enabling satellite-based voice and data communications to facilitate rescue, relief and recovery efforts for victims of Hurricane Katrina. The systems allow Army disaster response teams to establish and maintain Iridium satellite-based voice and data communications in any non-line-of-sight environment such as within buildings, command centers or other locations where outdoor use is not possible or practical. The company also has offered to send additional Satmax units to other federal, state and local civilian government and military agencies as well.

Echostar Communications Corp.

Echostar Communications Corp., which operated the Dish Network direct-to-home satellite television service, is providing television service to and raising money for victims of Hurricane Katrina. The company is setting up television service in nine shelters, including Kelley Air Force Base in San Antonio, Tex., which will receive about 25,000 refugees, as well as dozens of other Red Cross and FEMA shelters. The company also implemented a fund-raising drive among its employees.

DirecTV

Direct-to-home satellite television provider DirecTV launched a dedicated 24/7 “Hurricane Katrina Information” channel that is providing information regarding relief and recovery efforts to evacuees in shelters across the Gulf Region, as well as to DirecTV viewers nationwide.

Orbit One Communications

Orbit One Communications said it supplied “thousands” of satellite telephones and satellite-based asset tracking units to national, state and local agencies. The day Katrina made landfall, a team of 12 people from Bridger Fire Inc. were preparing to head to Franklin. La., about 30 miles north of New Orleans, in order to help set up logistics facilities for relief equipment that began pouring in to the area. A second crew of Bridger employees helped to install and monitor thousands of satellite tracking units that are being used to track and dispatch portable electric power generators, water trucks, ice shipments, medical response equipment, emergency housing material and emergency food supplies.

Iridium Satellite LLC

Iridium Satellite LLC said it “quickly moved mobile satellite communications equipment into the hands of first responders at the federal, state and local levels.” In the first 72 hours of the disaster, Iridium traffic in the region increased by more than 3,000 percent and the number of subscribers increased by more than 500 percent. Iridium noted the U.S. Federal Communications Commission granted use of additional spectrum to accommodate network traffic and minimize the risk of congestion from the increased traffic resulting from relief and recovery efforts.