A call from a satellite phone saved 10 female teachers and their driver from dying of thirst after their car broke down on a desert road some 150 km north of the Red Sea coastal city Al-Lith. The school principal walked around with her satphone in the desert until she found a signal on a hill. She made a call to the Al-Lith Education Department to report the incident. The department immediately dispatched a rescue team to the location, saving the teachers. They were stranded for five hours on their way back home from the remote school. The director of the department, Muhammad Al-Harthi, said: “It was fortunate that technology helped save the lives of the teachers.” He praised the action of the principal who kept her satphone with her in case of an emergency. The department has provided all principals in remote areas with satphones to be used when regular cell phones fail to communicate. Satphones do not use “cells” or cell towers. The most popular hand-held satellite telephones use Low Earth Orbiting (LEO) satellites. When they are turned on, the signal goes up to any number of satellites in a compatible constellation where it is then registered with the constellation. When making a call the satellite signal goes to the satellites and is then directed down to a ground station or gateway, and then to the call destination. The call can be directed to a land-line and a cellular network.
