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To: Another John who wrote (31168)	5/27/1999 12:43:00 PM
From: Feathered Propeller	Respond to of 152472

GSM in Kosovo FWIW: reference in bold (compliments of the people on the Compaq thread) REFUGEES: Red Cross launches tracing system By Tim Burt in Stockholm and Robert Wright in Tirana The International Red Cross has launched what is thought to be the world's first refugee tracing system for Albania and Macedonia using the internet and mobile telephone networks. The agency has joined forces with Ericsson, the Swedish telecommunications group, and Compaq, the US computer company, to develop the system in the two countries, where most of the estimated 700,000 refugees from the Kosovo conflict have fled. Red Cross officials said the tracing project, which has already been used by 10,000 families displaced by ethnic cleansing and fighting inside Kosovo, could become a model for other conflict zones and relief projects. Under the scheme, Compaq has provided computer hardware while Sysdor, the Swiss information technology company, has developed a website launched this week for refugees. Ericsson is building a mobile telephone base station in Kukes, northern Albania, and shipping so-called wireline telephones to the region, where fixed-line telecommunications are described as primitive. The Swedish group said the system would rely on GSM - the global system for mobile communications - to connect telephone stations inside the camps to the mobile and fixed-line networks in Albania and neighbouring countries. Up to 70 per cent of the refugees in the Kukes area, are said to be living outside the refugee camps with Albanian families or in barns and abandoned buildings. Up to now, many refugees have relied on radio station broadcasts and the few fixed-line telephones in the area to locate relatives or appeal for aid. "It is the first time this sort of technology has been harnessed for refugee relief work on this scale," said Tony Burgener, head of private fund-raising for the International Red Cross. One official in charge of the main refugee camp in Tirana, Jos Joosse, said many refugees had asked to borrow his mobile telephone to try to make contact with relatives. "Most of them have family members in Germany or Switzerland," he said. Many also had families still contactable by phone inside Kosovo or in other parts of Albania. Ericsson said the initial value of equipment donated for the project would be $2m. Nokia, its Finnish arch-rival, said it had made a cash donation of $1m to the Red Cross but had no plans to take part in the tracing system. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said gifts of computer equipment from companies such as Microsoft, Compaq and Hewlett-Packard also promised greatly to improve the registration process. "We didn't have such registration problems with the Bosnian refugees because they were not stripped of their identity papers."

To: Another John who wrote (31168)	5/27/1999 12:55:00 PM
From: Sawtooth	Respond to of 152472

<<I am travelling on holiday to Florida and D.C. next month and want to maintain contact with my clients, what service provider will rent or sell me a Qualcomm phone? Is it possible to buy a $20-50 phone card chip which is currently available where I live (Ireland) GSM ?>> Hi, John; nice to hear from you again. I do not know the answers to your questions so thought I might as well say so and hope that someone else on the thread can offer you some help. Best. ...Tim