“We could offer service to a number of key states today with capacity that is sitting idle,” said Jon Douglas, Spacenet director of marketing communications. In addition, Spacenet officials say they could provide the satellite-based broadband communications services very quickly. “If they didn’t have to pay for that ongoing expense because it’s being shared by all these other rural communities, they might find that very interesting.” “If every major police department in this country were told that with an upfront investment of $6 million to $7 million to install a satellite network, but practically no ongoing expense, they would be able to back up their terrestrial network, I think that may have a tremendous appeal,” Georghiou said. However, many public safety agencies do not have enough money available to invest in communications equipment and services that will only be needed during disasters such as floods, hurricanes or earthquakes, he added.īy combining the public safety networks with communications for libraries and colleges in rural areas, Spacenet can trim the cost of emergency communications. When those terrestrial networks are disrupted, satellites can help to restore voice, data and video communications within minutes, Georghiou said. Police and fire departments rely on terrestrial networks for day-to-day communications. “In essence you have provided the same bandwidth to a different constituency because of the emergency.” “If, God forbid, one of these communities has been hit by a disaster, man-made or otherwise, then one can drop the libraries and distance learning and give this bandwidth to fire departments and police departments,” he added. Spacenet executives already are proposing this type of program for various cities, including Los Angeles, and states, including Louisiana and New York, to allow community institutions in rural areas to share bandwidth with police and fire departments, Georghiou said. Another is to address public safety issues and remote community anchor institutions like libraries, schools and hospitals.” “One is to reach every American household. “The government agencies in charge of allotting these monies have several things in mind,” said Andreas Georghiou, chief executive of McLean, Va.-based Spacenet, a subsidiary of Gilat Satellite Networks Ltd. Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications Information Administration to extend high-speed communications to unserved and underserved households as well as schools, community centers, libraries and public safety groups. The idea is to address two important elements of the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program, a $4.4 billion campaign established by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and led by the U.S. government’s multibillion-dollar broadband program by offering to provide community institutions such as schools and libraries with satellite communications that could be pre-empted by emergency service agencies during a disaster.
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