E-INCLUSION: SATELLITES ARE the ANSWER SES Delivers Innovative Connectivity to Improve and Save Lives

SES White Paper December 2016 E-INCLUSION: SATELLITES ARE THE ANSWER SES delivers innovative connectivity to improve and save lives

The global digital divide is a reality. learning material to children regardless world’s population. A space network is Billions of people in the developing of where they live. Connecting key not enough though, which is why SES world do not have access to events like elections enhances has deployed a wide range of platforms broadband Internet, excluding citizen participation in public life. And and applications on the ground that them from the economic and social connectivity for the agriculture and give the power of connectivity to those advantages of the connected world. financial services sectors puts the who need it most. tools of opportunity in the hands of Internet access has the power to those that need it most. The first project was emergency.lu, rapidly transform quality of life. In an a revolutionary service to rapidly emergency, connectivity can make Broadband Internet can have dramatic put connectivity in the hands of the difference between life and positive effects, but access is the key first responders, wherever they death. Connecting a hospital gives to releasing its potential. As Internet may be. SATMED quickly followed, it the power to call on the wealth access and speed accelerates in some providing long-term medical support of the world’s medical knowledge. regions of the world, the digital divide in remote regions. Both of these are Connecting schools brings quality gets larger, making the gap even more well-established projects that SES important to bridge. Satellites are the is using to widen its scope. Today, answer. High above the earth, satellites SES is innovating in the field of can provide connectivity anywhere and e-learning, e-elections, e-agriculture, respond swiftly to evolving situations. and e-microfinance. These latest SES has built on the strength of e-inclusion applications demonstrate satellites to provide borderless the potential that connectivity has to connectivity and created a completely change lives, and offer a window into global network that reaches 99% of the the future. THE BEGINNING OF SES E-INCLUSION: EMERGENCY.LU

When the Luxembourg emergency response team returned from its mission in Haiti in 2010, its members could barely contain themselves in the face of the appalling human tragedy unleashed by the 7.0 magnitude earthquake that had devastated the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince and other parts of the country.

The earthquake affected a total of three million people and an estimated 150,000 people lost their lives. The first responders described scenes of chaos on the streets, doctors in the badly damaged hospitals quickly running out of essential medical supplies, and worst of all, not being able to do anything, at least not fast enough, to save more lives. Numerous other international teams on the ground brought back similar reports.

The collapse of the terrestrial communications infrastructure only added to the confusion, with most aid workers unable to communicate properly and rescue teams blocked at the airport with nowhere to go. The population of Haiti, with no telephone or Internet, was cut off from the rest of the world. emergency.lu antenna

IDEA INNOVATION

Alarmed by the terrifying reports, A lightweight satellite communications While it may be delicate in appearance, the Luxembourg Ministry for Foreign solution was needed because the the balloon is in fact extremely and European affairs decided traditional antenna and equipment resilient: it can withstand all weather that things had to change, fast. It that the project required could not conditions, and even maintain partnered with three Luxembourg- be transported by jet and set up on connectivity if damaged. based companies and the idea of the ground in a short timeframe and emergency.lu was born. They would unstable environment. Therefore, SES Once it is deflated, the 2.4m antenna create a communications platform and its partners created a complete fits in a box and becomes part of capable of rapidly deploying a reliable satellite communications kit that the emergeny.lu rapid deployment satellite-based communications included a lightweight antenna, small kit created by SES and HITEC. The system into a disaster zone anywhere enough to fit in one of Air Ambulance’s complete kit contains six other boxes in the world. jets, easy to assemble, and extremely that, together with the antenna box, robust for use in extreme conditions. weigh 32kg. This Rapid Deployment The Luxembourg Government Kit is designed for fast deployment in provided funding and the other To connect with satellites in the immediate aftermath of a disaster. partners the needed expertise. Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO) With a team on standby 24/7, an Air Luxembourg Air Ambulance S.A., 36,000 km above the Earth in such Ambulance jet equipped with one such based at Luxembourg Airport, difficult conditions, a specialised kit on board is ready to take off within own a fleet of five fixed-wing antenna was needed that came in the two hours from an alert. 12 to 20 hours aircrafts that would provide rapid form of a balloon. Instead of a 2.4m later, the communications platform is worldwide deployment with very solid antenna, this antenna breaks deployed in the disaster zone. In the short notice. SES would deploy a a traditional antenna into pieces following days and weeks a Regular specialised, transportable satellite and integrates them into a balloon. Deployment Kit containing a normal communications antenna and provide Breaking the antenna into separate transportable antenna can be shipped pre-booked satellite capacity. Finally, parts reduces its size for transport, and by cargo to the disaster zone in order HITEC Luxembourg S.A. would deliver the balloon makes it fast to deploy. On- to provide long-term support. the equipment to close the loop of site, the antenna is made whole again connectivity between the satellite by inflating the balloon, which then sits Yet, emergency.lu is so much more than connectivity and end-users. on the ground set to the specific angle the hardware that re-establishes vital needed to pick up connectivity from a connectivity, it also includes a powerful satellite. set of applications. First responders

2 THE FUTURE and aid workers only need to connect European Emergency Response Emergency.lu is now well established, their laptops, tablets and smartphones Capacity. Since 2012, several systems but SES’s philosophy is to permanently to the emergency.lu network to have been stationed in South Sudan, adapt solutions to needs on the ground access a number of vital tools. These Mali, and Venezuela among others. and to foster innovation addressing allow them to do such things as This included a deployment in the those needs. The solution currently communicate easily with headquarters aftermath of the Haiyan typhoon that relies on local emergency generators, via voice over IP (VoIP) and instant hit the Philippines in 2013, and during but in 2017 a “power box” will be messaging, track aid workers’ or relief efforts in response to the 7.8 integrated into the Rapid Deployment convoy movements, get situation magnitude earthquake in Nepal in Kit. This will enable the platform to reports and plan aid distribution routes, 2015. Five systems were also sent to be connected to any kind of energy and finally download local maps to get West Africa in connection with the source, including solar and wind, which orientation and assess the surrounding fight against the Ebola epidemic. In will increase the system’s autonomy situation. Together, these applications these instances emergency.lu was and make it even more reliable. provide key capabilities that were paired with SATMED (following page) missing in 2010 in Haiti. and the B-LiFE laboratory. The B-LiFE This will be of utmost importance project delivers a rapid deployment in the coming years as the impact laboratory to crisis zones, enabling of climate change will likely worsen, quick diagnostic tests and swift and poverty and political instability IN ACTION responses to health crises. will continue to generate migration and refugee movements. These Since 2012 emergency.lu has been Most recently, one Rapid and one trends may cause a paradigm shift used around the globe. Generally Regular Deployment Kits were for emergency.lu, from providing deployed at the request of the UN installed in Haiti following aftermath communication services to a relatively World Food Programme (WFP), as of hurricane Matthew that hit the small group of humanitarian field the global lead in the UN Emergency country in October 2016. For all of workers in a disaster zone, to longer- Telecommunication Cluster (ETC), it these missions, emergency.lu manages lasting missions that provide means of can also be made available to other the entire service chain, including communication to the affected local ECT members, or humanitarian air transport, satellite infrastructure, population. In turn this will require organisations. This is done through terminals and application services, as further capacity and innovative Luxembourg, which has registered it as well as training and refurbishment of solutions. a contribution to the European Union’s the equipment after a mission.

Global emergency.lu deployments 2014-2016

SES White Paper | E-inclusion: satellites are the answer | 3 A Friendship hospital boat in Bangladesh

LONG-TERM E-INCLUSION: SATMED

In the Bangladesh delta, local people make their homes on small remote islands in order to farm fertile land. The only way to reach these isolated communities is by ship; which is why a local NGO, Friendship, operates three floating hospitals. As they cruise along the rivers these ship board hospitals enable approximately 80 medical specialists to provide permanent healthcare for up to 200,000 patients per year.

In the spring of 2016, the Friendship staffs’ challenging working conditions changed dramatically when a SES team installed maritime VSATs on their ships to provide connectivity, and enable them to use SES’s cloud-based e-health platform, SATMED.

IDEA INNOVATION

Medical professionals in remote skills and financial resources are SATMED is a ground breaking internet and resource-poor regions in many limited. With the valuable cooperation based e-health application. It offers all situations do not have access to of e-Medical Communication (eMC), the tools doctors in remote areas need e-health applications because of and funding from the Luxembourg to provide a wide range of e-health costs, lack of user-friendliness, poor Government, SES was able to capabilities such as access and storage interoperability between IT solutions begin solving these issues with of patient e-records, medical imaging, and, last but not least, limited or non- SATMED. A new kind of e-health e-learning, virtual consultation, remote existing internet access. Following platform, SATMED was developed monitoring and e-health management, the success of emergency.lu, SES with the support of innovative combined with videoconferencing approached this challenge, knowing technologies established by leading applications. In areas where internet that satellite services could overcome universities and IT companies, and access via the terrestrial infrastructure the issue of connectivity. in close cooperation with five NGOs is not available, SES provides satellite- (Friendship, ArcheMed, Fondation enhanced internet access using the What was needed was a cost-efficient, Follereau Luxembourg, German same satellite capacity network as robust and easy-to-use solution for Doctors and CURE) to ensure that real emergency.lu. rural or remote areas where computer needs on the ground were met.

4 IN ACTION

Pilot projects enabled the e-health The SATMED innovation is changing initiatives, but not exclusively. SATMED platform to be tested and adapted and improving healthcare across the was first rolled-out in Sierra Leone to specific requirements. User- world. Primarily created for NGOs, as part of a pilot phase in 2014, when friendliness was a top priority. That governmental institutions, hospitals, SES collaborated with the Belgian First is why SATMED integrates a wide universities and health-management Aid and Support Team (B-Fast) and range of tools within a single platform. institutions, today SATMED is funded the NGO German Doctors. Installed in These tools are available as web by the Luxembourg Government. the Serabu Hospital in the Bo District, applications that can be readily used Sierra Leone, SATMED brought on a desktop or mobile device, so Thanks to SATMED, Bangladesh internet access to this geographically they do not require any sophisticated doctors and nurses can today share isolated location. This was of particular and costly local IT infrastructure. All medical records among their ships importance during the Ebola outbreak, applications can be accessed via a as well as synchronise information enabling the community to stay in single portal with the same user log-in, at the headquarters in Dhaka. They contact with the medical staff, gather making SATMED particularly easy to are also able to connect to other up-to-date information about the use. The secure cloud service ensures doctors and gain access to medical spread of the disease and to adopt the exchange, storage and back-up knowledge from around the world that preventive measures accordingly. of highly-sensitive data according to was previously inaccessible, provide Since then, SATMED, with the support strict governance rules, doing away medical counselling to marginalised of the NGO Fondation Follereau with the need for local hosting and communities, and train their personnel Luxembourg (FFL), has been deployed storage contracts. with e-learning. Connectivity is in Benin in a remote maternity hospital, achieved with maritime VSATs in the district hospital in Allada, and What makes this solution so exciting installed on the deck of each floating in the CURE children’s hospital in is that it is so easy: all that is needed is hospital, and the tools are integrated Niamey, Niger. In 2016 SATMED was a computer or a mobile device - and, into SATMED. also launched in the Philippines, in the of course, internet access. And when isolated German Doctors’ hospital in there is no access, SES is always The Bangladesh project is a clear Buda on the island of Mindanao. there with the capability to provide illustration of the way that satellite connectivity everywhere. technology can benefit humanitarian

THE FUTURE

In September 2016 SATMED won the “Changing Lives Award” at the VSAT Global Event held in London. Building on the success of the first projects, SES is now exploring new SATMED applications in both humanitarian and commercial domains.

The SATMED application

SES White Paper | E-inclusion: satellites are the answer | 5 THE FUTURE OF SES E-INCLUSION E-LEARNING E-ELECTIONS

One of the most fascinating Elections can pose a particular In that instance, 368 polling stations e-inclusion stories is e-learning in the challenge in countries with limited across the country were equipped Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan. This communications access. Gathering with VSAT terminals and served as a vast camp in the desert is occupied votes and communicating to polling hub for the secure digital transmission by 80.000 people who have been stations in large areas of the country of the vote tallies from over 18,000 forced to flee from their homeland is challenging without a reliable electoral offices to the central CENI by the war in Syria. Among them terrestrial telecommunications collection centre in the capital are more than 20.000 school age network. This is why Burkina Faso’s Ouagadougou. The provisional results children. Beyond education, attending official electoral body, the Commission were displayed in almost real-time school provides a sense of routine Electorale Nationale Indépendante on the Internet and by the public TV and normality to these children (CENI) brought in SES and its partners channel (RTB), allowing the public who have endured violence and to support Burkina Faso’s 2012 to accompany the evolution of the displacement. municipal elections. After the success election results.The final result was of the 2012 project, CENI initiated the then published the day after the SES, together with the German same approach again for the Burkina- presidential election, a first in Africa company SOLARKIOSK, pioneered Faso presidential elections in 2015. and a benchmark for future elections. a special type of school among the nine regular schools in the Zaatari camp. The project, called “Connected Solar School” was developed to use SES connectivity for e-learning applications in combination with SOLARKIOSK’s E-HUBB. E-HUBB is a structure designed by the Berlin- based architecture firm Graft and provides solar energy to power connectivity, lights, computers and printers within the school. By partnering with SOLARKIOSK, SES was able to build in the capability to provide Internet connectivity through SES’s Astra Connect broadband platform, to power quality e-learning materials sponsored by UNICEF.

Being able to access online teaching material is a vital part of modern education. SES is now developing its cooperation with SOLARKIOSK to build upon the foundation created by the Zaatari camp project and establish new projects in Africa, where SES participates in other e-learning projects. Expansion will continue, bringing aid to teachers and children in schools across countries and empowering children.

School children in Zaatari

6 E-AGRICULTURE E-MICROFINANCE

Beyond finance, digital technologies In developing countries, the market also have the potential to transform for microfinance is growing fast. agriculture in the years ahead. However, remote sites often lack vital Agricultural and rural development telecommunication services. The local can be enhanced through improved mobile network is not suitable for information and communication; yet business-critical transactions as it is this requires connectivity to ensure usually congested and the quality of that farmers in remote areas can service is poor. benefit from useful applications and information related to their agricultural In the framework of the SatFinAfrica business. SES has been able to pilot project, which was run in address this demand by establishing collaboration with ESA, supported by broadband internet connectivity via Newtec, and led by pan-African ISP its Astra Connect platform wherever SatADSL, Money transfer offices and needed. Automatic Teller Machines (ATMs) in very remote areas were connected In the Netherlands over 200,000 through SES bandwidth. The Astra households in mainly rural areas Connect service was adapted by do not have access to high-speed SatADSL to grant a reliable and internet, which limits agricultural secured communication system to entrepreneurs who depend on fast money transfer companies or ATMs. 2015 Presidential election internet for the success of their After the successful completion in Burkina Faso businesses. Today 55,000 members of SatFinAfrica, the project team of LTO Commerce, the sales division launched SatCorpAfrica project at the of the Dutch Federation of Agriculture end of 2014. SatCorpAfrica aims at and Horticulture, now benefit from providing dedicated satellite services Broadband provided through the to Oil & Gas operators, the Mining and Astra Connect platform. Connectivity Banking industries, and more generally in all businesses is vital, but to Larger and Medium-Sized African particularly difficult in rural agricultural companies with multiple sites located environments, making satellite the in remote areas of West Africa. ideal solution.

VITAL CONNECTIVITY

With a global network that reaches across borders, and services that are flexible and scalable, SES brings connectivity into reality overcoming the digital divide. As governments look for innovative solutions to achieve development goals, SES’s powerful collection of reliable e-inclusion services will be there. From emergency.lu to e-microfinance, each project demonstrates how satellite technology improves and saves lives. Public Private Partnerships will be the key to harness the power of satellites in the Government and Institutional sector, and by fostering sustainable business models moving forward inclusive connectivity can be ensured. Supporting development across the globe, satellites are reducing the digital divide. School children in Zaatari

SES White Paper | E-inclusion: satellites are the answer | 7 SATELLITES IMPROVE AND SAVE LIVES

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Printed in December 2016.

This white paper is for informational purposes only, and does not constitute an offer from SES. SES reserves the right to change the information at any time, and assumes no responsibility for any errors, omissions or changes. All brands and product names used may be registered trademarks and are hereby acknowledged. For more information about SES, visit www.ses.com or email [email protected]