Our origins

At the beginning of the Kosovo war, TSF is not yet created, but those who will be its founders a few months later set out on their first mission of "humanitarian telephony", a pilot mission which will make them aware of the vital communication needs in the field. When they return to France, they therefore decide to create TSF. After registration, TSF opens its first office in Pau and sets up its first emergency team made up of employees and volunteers.

Once the organization was created, its founders invest in their first satellite phone and go to the borders of Kosovo to offer phone calls to the thousands of refugees fleeing the war. The modest organization becomes professional and above all stands out. The first partners commit to TSF and allow it to have an international emergency response.

In 1999, during the Izmit earthquake in Turkey, Télécoms sans Frontières mobilized for the first time following a natural disaster and responded to the communication needs of present relief workers. But it was especially during the Afghan War that the "strengthening of humanitarian coordination" operations began to gain momentum. TSF uses mobile satellite technological advances to optimize the effectiveness of the actions of humanitarian actors.

TSF provides emergency humanitarian aid in less than 24 hours to vulnerable populations following an exceptional crisis or natural disaster. The opening of regional bases in Latin America and Asia allows close collaboration with the national and regional response mechanism. It was also during this period that TSF obtained its first institutional funding under the framework agreement with the European Commission – ECHO. Through this financial support, ECHO recognizes that telecommunications are essential in the first emergency phase for populations and actors in the field.

Coming in the aftermath of Christmas, the 2004 earthquake and tsunami sparked an unprecedented humanitarian deployment and generosity across the world. The need for communications to manage the massive influx of international aid and the humanitarian response was paramount and urgent. TSF deployed to the area in less than 48 hours on a flight chartered by the French government and subsequently carried out operations in 3 of the most affected countries: Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Thailand.

TSF is named "First Responder" of the Emergency Telecoms Cluster (ETC). Created by OCHA and originally supervised by UNICEF (nowadays by WFP), the ETC aims to pool telecommunications resources on humanitarian emergencies by coordinating the telecoms players in the field. In this context, all the while preserving its independence as an NGO, TSF's role is to open Telecom Centers for the humanitarian community during the first 30 days following a crisis. TSF is also transitioning to longer-term resources to cover the entire emergency phase of the missions.

TSF realizes that the food crises which regularly strike Niger could be limited thanks to an optimized use of NICTs. TSF technicians develop and implement an Early Warning System (EWS), responsible for collecting, processing and disseminating relevant information relating to the risks of food crises that could affect certain areas of the country. TSF’s response then became more diversified with the installation of emergency communication centers enabling information to be disseminated in real time and therefore providing a faster and better adapted overall response.

Recognized as a leading NGO in emergency telecommunications, TSF is called upon to provide practical training and participate in simulation exercises (SIMEX), notably alongside the United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination teams (UNDAC) and the International Search and Rescue Advisory Group (INSARAG). TSF therefore specializes in "capacity building" and makes it one of its areas of activity, in addition to its "emergency response" operations.

The 2010 earthquake in Haiti is a humanitarian crisis that remains etched in the collective memory of people around the world. For humanitarian organizations, it was one of the worst disasters in recent decades. TSF has adapted to the various needs of the humanitarian community by installing broadband connections in strategic coordination centers for the benefit of the entire community: United Nations agencies, European Commission, local and international NGOs and local authorities. At the same time, TSF offered essential psychological support to the affected populations through free calls.

Technologies are increasingly entering the world of education. TSF continues its emergency response operations, particularly during the Syrian crisis, but cannot remain blindfold when faced with the needs of children entrenched in IDP camps. The organization therefore decides to use its NICT expertise to set up "mLearning centers" giving Syrian students, always accompanied by a teacher, access to digital educational resources via tablets.

TSF intervened in the Philippines after typhoon Haiyan (locally known as Yolanda), which struck the regions of Visayas and Leyte. The evolution of new technologies has created new means of communication. At the heart of the emergency, in addition to the calls, TSF adapted its operations to the habits of the population by opening the first Cyber Emergency Center in the city of Guiuan.

Smartphones have impacted the daily lives of exiles; this small device is for many their most precious asset. For the first time in its operations, TSF is giving its beneficiaries the means to use their own mobile phone to make calls, send instant messages or connect to their social networks. These connections allow the maintenance of an emotional and psychological link between migrants and their relatives, but also make accessible vital information aimed at protecting them during their displacement.

For the first time ever, on October 5, TSF carried out a mobile Wi-Fi operation for the population affected by Hurricane Maria on the island of Dominica. Equipped with a 4x4 and a mobile satellite dish, TSF traveled from village to village to provide residents with access to social networks, instant messaging applications and information websites. These operations have provided roaming broadband Wi-Fi access to the most remote areas of the island.

TSF has celebrated its 20th anniversary with all its loyal partners and takes stock: more than 70 countries, over 20 million beneficiaries, 140+ major humanitarian crises and 850+ NGOs, United Nations Agencies and government authorities assisted. But much more than the figures, the history of TSF shows how new technologies play a primordial role during humanitarian crises, that we fought to optimize their use by the beneficiary populations during 2 decades and that it is essential to continue to adapt them to different contexts and constraints in the field.