Tech world moves equipment, talent, cash to help out Haiti

The earthquakes in Haiti continue to send ripples throughout the Internet community as regular people look for ways to help. However, it’s not just Internet users who are trying to lend a helping hand—major communications companies, as well as the Federal Communications Commission, are stepping up efforts to bring back communications to the area and boost donations to those in need.

Getting telecom back up

It’s no secret that wireless communications are incredibly important in Haiti—moreso than they are in the US—because almost no one has a land line and people primarily rely on their cell phones. The earthquakes caused serious problems with many of the wireless towers in the area, leaving those affected without any way to get in touch with loved ones, law enforcement, or relief efforts.

Trilogy International Partners, a US-based company that operates a wireless subsidiary called Voil� that carries a third of the phone connections in Haiti, has been working around the clock to get its infrastructure back up after the quakes. According to the Seattle Times, the company accounted for its 500 local employees immediately and flew in another handful of engineers, radios, batteries, and water last Wednesday. By Thursday, much of the company’s network was back up and victims were able to start using their phones again to get help.

In addition to Voil�’s efforts in getting the network back up, other companies have begun donating IT services and supplies to speed up the effort. T-Mobile USA announced last week that it had begun donating wireless equipment, such as generators and phones, to relief efforts in Haiti. And, as part of a partnership with the United Nation’s Emergency Telecom Cluster, humanitarian group NetHope announced today that it has dispatched IT and disaster relief specialists to Port-au-Prince to set up more telecommunications infrastructure.

The organization plans to use VSAT satellite dishes and WiFi networks to set up access points for NetHope’s 20 member agencies, including International Federation of Red Cross, CHF International, and Save the Children. Not only will this provide Internet connectivity, it will also enable VoIP communications and help these organizations coordinate the delivery of other supplies. This is in addition to the efforts provided by T�l�coms Sans Fronti�res (TSF, or Telecom without Borders), which has deployed emergency teams from France and its American base in Managua to get mobile satellite tools up and running.

Even the Federal Communications Commission is getting in on the action. The FCC said late last week that it was “strongly committed” to doing its part to bring back communication services in Haiti, and that it was working with federal partners to prioritize temporary solutions as well as get existing systems up and running. The agency is also providing technical analysis of carriers’ temporary services in Haiti, working to ensure that equipment from the US won’t interfere with what’s already there, and taking steps to increase satellite capacity over Haiti.

Getting in touch

For those looking to get in touch with people in Haiti, T-Mobile also said that it’s enabling phone calls to Haiti without incurring international charges through January 31 in order to help people connect with friends and family, and that T-Mobile customers who are in Haiti will be able to use their phones on the partner networks (which includes Voil�) without roaming charges.

In a similar vein, Verizon Wireless said that it’s also assisting in the relief efforts in Haiti and that it has set up a Haiti Relief Connection Center in Miami. The company is making available 20 Droid handsets on-site (as well as “other technology”) so that people can go there to make voice calls, send text messages, and post to Facebook/Twitter in order to communicate with victims of the quakes. The center, located at 14744 Biscayne Blvd. in Miami, will run from 9am to 9pm Monday through Saturday and 11am to 6pm on Sundays with no specific end date.

Finally, the FCC says that families of Americans living in Haiti should contact the State Department at 888-407-4747 for help in getting in contact with them.

Donate, donate, donate

This is all on top of the continued donations pouring in from both companies and regular old citizens. Verizon announced last week that, instead of waiting for all the text messaged donations to go through the billing system, it went ahead and advanced $2,987,560 in donations to the Red Cross. This represents donations made by Verizon customers for only the first two days of the campaign, meaning that more continues to flow through Verizon’s (and other cell carriers’) cell towers as relief efforts continue.