In the face of the COVID-19 pandemic and shortly after the Presidential Decree adopting extraordinary measures to combat the spread of the virus, SES offered free satellite capacity to the government of Mexico to support broadband satellite connectivity between 35 public hospitals. The Secretariat of Communication and Telecomm de México (the public provider of satellite services of the Secretariat of Communications), in coordination with the Secretariat of Health worked with SES to quickly launch the satellite-based telemedicine service. These 6 months of satellite capacity, provided at no cost to the government of Mexico, has enabled real-time telemedicine exchanges between medical and health teams, pandemic-related data collection and monitoring of the COVID-19 infection curve.

https://www.gob.mx/sct/prensa/telemedicina-satelital-conecta-35-hospitales-publicos-y-centros-de-salud-en-zonas-urbanas-y-rurales-que-atienden-covid-19

• Mexico

This project is easily replicable for other telemedicine and tele-education projects around the world. With health systems and public health authorities facing new pandemics, digital health solutions have become key components for coping with ongoing outbreaks such as COVID-19. ICT tools are indispensable for increasing the resilience, efficiency and quality of the health service delivery systems. This project is replicable subject to the limits of available capacity of the satellite and hardware.

Yes. The project is sustainable as long as the satellite capacity and equipment is available. The initiative is the result of a collaboration between the Secretariat of Communications, its satellite arm, Telecomm de México and the satellite operator SES (through its local subsidiary Sistemas Satelitales de México), for the benefit of the Secretariat of Health. The satellite capacity was delivered promptly and free of charge to the Mexican government. The network uses a Telecomm teleport, communicating with SES-10 and uses antennas rapidly deployed to hospitals which are part of the infrastructure that Telecomm has for emergencies.

Since April 2020, using more than 22 MHz of Ku-band capacity on the SES-10 geostationary satellite, SES has been supporting the Mexican telemedicine networks connecting 35 public hospitals and health centers treating COVID-19 patients throughout Mexico. These 35 Ku-band satellite links were installed by Telecomm de México which provided the remote equipment and terminals. Links of up to 1 Mbps "downstream” and up to 512 Kbps "upstream" were achieved, making continuous and excellent quality bandwidth available for the transfer of high-resolution files, images, video, and data. This broadband satellite technology has also allowed medical personnel, with local equipment, to analyse X-rays and scans of patients remotely, generate diagnoses and evaluate the appropriate treatment. Moreover, it has facilitated the gathering of data to better and more quickly understand COVID-19-related needs and conditions.