Inmarsat recently announced a change in its BGAN Link policy to specifically help NGOs and aid workers in the countries affected by Ebola.
BGAN Link plans are affordable satellite broadband plans that were designed to provide satellite broadband internet to remote areas. The trick with BGAN Link plans, however, is that they have "fixed location" mobility restrictions on them. IE: you cannot move the BGAN unit around without Inmarsat cancelling your Link plan. BGAN Link units cannot move outside of a small geographic area as they were created for fixed land-based sites, not for mobile satellite internet. (There are plenty of options for BGAN mobile satellite internet, but they tend to be more expensive).
In response to the Ebola crisis in West Africa, however, Inmarsat has lifted the "fixed location" mobility restriction on BGAN Link plans being used in Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea. If the outbreak spreads further than those countries, Inmarsat has committed to continuing to open the geographic areas of the BGAN Link plan users to allow them mobility to combat Ebola.
Complete mobility will be enabled on BGAN Link 3 and 12 Month plans in the countries currently affected by the Ebola outbreak.
This also applies to qualifying BGAN Link plans activated within the next six months - between now and the 31 March 2015 - and will expire when the plan subscribed to expires, or by the 31 March 2016, whichever comes first.
We're glad to see Inmarsat jumping in to do what it can to help aid and NGO workers in West Africa. If you or your organization needs a BGAN unit and an airtime plan to support your work in rural and remote parts of the planet, please contact us to ask about how BGAN Link could work for you.
