FSS Operators Preparing for Hurricane Season
Fixed Satellite Services (FSS) firms with operations over the U.S. are preparing for a busy hurricane season by setting aside satellite capacity and pre-positioning as much ground gear as possible, they said. The 2005 storm season brought significant Ku-band capacity demand and a rush for mobile, easy-to-use satellite communications gear, said executives we spoke with at Intelsat, Loral, PanAmSat and SES Americom. Major U.S. satellite operators are working to make sure enough Ku-band and gear are available -- and more quickly -- this year, they said.
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On the Hill, satellite firms are watching Sen. Stevens’ (R-Alaska) telecom bill, which would fund pre-positioning of satellite gear, FSS executives said. After 2005’s storms, satellite operators were called on to restore cellular and other communications networks, often pro bono. Even now, FSS operators are patching or replacing terrestrial networks in La. wrecked by Katrina, they said. Pre-positioned emergency satellite equipment would have helped considerably, many said. But short of evoking the Stafford Act, there’s little federal funding to pay for bringing satcom-equipped trucks and command centers into crises, FSS executives said. Another imminent regulatory development: a report by the FCC Hurricane Katrina Independent Panel, due June 15.
FSS operators tap “ad hoc” or “occasional use” satellite capacity, largely Ku-band, to meet industry, govt., first responder and media bandwidth needs after a disaster, they said. No FSS operator went so far as to say it ran out of Ku- capacity during last year’s hurricane season, but all admitted scrambling to meet demand. Ku-band capacity is tight over N. America, and FSS operators want to see the govt. plan some procurement needs in advance, they said. “We're okay this year. We're probably okay next year. But then I'm afraid that they have got to plan on getting some kind of consistent capacity going forward, because just to assume satellite operators are maintaining ad hoc capacity isn’t a good bet,” said PanAmSat CEO Joseph Wright.
Intelsat has set aside satellite capacity over the Gulf of Mexico and the Carribean for hurricane season, an Intelsat spokeswoman said. Intelsat also has tuned its processes to bring capacity online immediately to get networks up “in a matter of hours,” she said. Other FSS operators are doing likewise, they said. To meet demand, SES Americom will rely on occasional use and SNG (satellite news gathering) capacity, as it did last year, a spokeswoman said: “We have a fluid list of transponders and bandwidth available on a rolling basis. News organizations depend on it heavily, as do others.” PanAmSat will use ad hoc capacity stores this year, too, Wright said: “It’s called ‘ad hoc,’ but really it’s special-event and broadcast services bandwidth.” PanAmSat had enough capacity to meet needs last year, and will this year, he said.
Loral is prepping for storm season on 2 fronts, officials told us: via its FSS and network services business and XTAR, a joint X-band satellite venture with Spain’s Hisdesat. “XTAR didn’t have a satellite over the hurricane area last year, but we do now, XTAR-LANT,” XTAR COO Denis Curtin said. “We've been watching this closely and identifying capacity up front that we'd make available to use for first responders,” said Larry Haughey, vp-govt. markets. Operations in the X-band, traditionally military spectrum, are less vulnerable than Ku-band to rain-fade, Curtin said. The National Guard carries X-band terminals, and XTAR has briefed the Guard and FEMA on X-band first responder services, he said.
Most satellite operators have new versions of ground gear for disaster preparedness and recovery, namely small, light VSAT gear hardened for field use and easy to set up, they said. For example, PanAmSat has deployed 70 QuickSpot mobile disaster recovery centers, Wright said. QuickSpots are SUVs fitted a fully-managed satellite network for voice, video, data, file transfer and satellite newsgathering, Wright said. PanAmSat has seen interest in QuickSpot at the federal level and among media firms, Wright said: “We're starting to see interest from state and local governments and we will be deploying some units ourselves along the Florida and Gulf coasts.” Should flooding bar vehicles, PanAmSat has developed VSAT packages that can be dropped in via helicopter or carried in a backpack, he said. In a similar vein, SES has a portable REDiSat network, said Robert Phelan, senior vp-new service development.
Loral Skynet is launching product lines aimed at disaster prep and response for firms and emergency responders, said Jon Kirchner, vp-mktg. & business development. The lines, like other FSS operators’, are flexible, Kirchner said: “Some want always-on capabilities, some want switch-over capabilities, others want… transportable mobile units for areas where a disaster takes out even the back-up networks.” Loral is seeing particular demand for satellite products at the state level, Kirchner said.
SES Americom participated in Katrina-related efforts via the National Communications System (NCS) and the NCS National Coordinating Center for Telecom (NCC), said Leslie Blaker, vp-business development, Americom Govt. Services. SES maintains an inventory of available satellite bandwidth and hardware for a central NCC database, Blaker said. The firm has pre-positioned VSAT and other satellite gear for govt. users, she said. SES Americom was in on May NCC exercises in Fla. at which federal, state and local first responders trained, she said.