FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla. --The AT&T Foundation today awarded a $50,000 grant to Télécoms sans Frontières (TSFI), an international non-government humanitarian organization specializing in restoring emergency telecommunications services during catastrophes or country conflicts.
The grant from the AT&T Foundation will support a new initiative by TSFI called the "Natural Disaster Prevention Training Program," which aims to establish permanent logistical bases in remote regions. The first project, currently underway in Managua, Nicaragua, is designed to act as staging area for Central and South America, a region regularly hit by natural disasters.
This will be the second year the AT&T Foundation has supported the French based charity and is recognition of the invaluable humanitarian work the organization does around the world.
Penny Shaffer, vice president of AT&T Global Services for the Americas, presented the grant to TSFI today at the site of AT&T's Network Disaster Recovery exercise (NDR) in South Florida. TSFI engineers and technicians from around the world were on site to receive the grant and observe the NDR exercise as part of their own training for telecommunications recovery operations around the world.
"AT&T's gift will further our preparedness to respond to disasters around the world, and will help us to continue to expand our pioneering work in Central and South America," said TSFI President Jean-Francois Cazenave. "We are delighted to attend the AT&T disaster recovery exercise in Florida, which has allowed us to share best practices and observe AT&T's disaster recovery team in action."
TSFI teams can deploy anywhere in world, usually within 48 hours, to help re-establish telecommunications, assist rescue operations and enable disaster victims to reach family and friends. TSFI has responded to humanitarian needs in Central and South America, parts of Iraq and Kosovo, and Portugal, where it helped maintain communications to coordinate relief efforts during devastating wildfires.
In addition to financial assistance from the AT&T Foundation, AT&T Business is contributing technical support for the development of TSFI initiatives by providing its teams with free remote access to the Internet and a supply of AT&T PrePaid Phone Cards. AT&T, a world expert in disaster recovery and business continuity, will also lend its skills and expertise to advise TSFI in the area of emergency telecommunications.
"This gift is an example of how AT&T supports organizations that provide vital recovery services during disasters," Shaffer said. "Telecoms Sans Frontieres has a tremendous track record, and its ability to quickly deploy emergency satellite communications equipment in areas with damaged or non-existent telecommunication infrastructure addresses a critical humanitarian need."
The AT&T NDR exercise is taking place at the Pompano Park Harness Track near Ft. Lauderdale through Tuesday, May 4. The exercise demonstrates the network disaster recovery process, from the initial mobilization of team members to transport of equipment and turn-up and testing of service. AT&T draws on experience and insights gained from the exercises to continuously refine its disaster response systems and strengthen its business continuity services.
No other company in the telecommunications industry has the disaster recovery tools or capabilities of AT&T. AT&T's NDR team is the industry's only mobile, network disaster recovery team capable of monitoring, managing and proactively protecting customers' critical networks.
About TSFI
TSFI signed a partnership in 2000 with the Office of the High Commission with the Refugees for the United Nations (UNHCR). TSFI manages a permanent force of technicians and engineers able to intervene on the four corners of planet, in order to ensure equipment installation, programming and maintenance for UNHCR emergency missions. Télécoms sans Frontières is a member of the United Nations Working Group on Emergency Telecommunications (WGET), partner of the European Commission's Humanitarian Aid Office (ECHO) and member of the International Council of Voluntary Agencies (ICVA).
About AT&T
For more than 125 years, AT&T (NYSE "T") has been known for unparalleled quality and reliability in communications. Backed by the research and development capabilities of AT&T Labs, the company is a global leader in local, long distance, Internet and transaction-based voice and data services.
