A Bermuda-based satellite operator has been playing a role in supporting the US military's communication requirements in the war effort.

Intelsat Ltd chief executive officer, Ramu Potarazu, said: "In times of war especially, the most import thing is communication. The government today does not have the ability to take on all the traffic requirements they have, so they have to come to the commercial sector to augment it."

The scope for use of satellite communications in the Gulf is immense. Ranging from battlefield communications, surveillance systems and guidance systems to the secure transmission of data to and from the field.

Although the Pentagon has its own orbiting space fleet, they need to transmit so much content-heavy data, such as images of theatres of conflict or targets, that they have had to buy up access to commercial satellites as well.

Intelsat is one of the four main such satellite operators in the world, managing a global network of 24 satellites with access into 200 different countries.

Mr. Potarazu said: "We can be received in over 95 per cent of the world's surface."

He said that unless you were right on the North or South Pole, chances were you could use the Intelsat network to communicate with the rest of the world. Intelsat's biggest customers are telecom companies such as AT&T, MCI World Communications, British Telecom and many others.

One of the other main players, Inmarsat, recently announced that it has re-tasked one of its backup satellites to establish further capacity in the Middle East.

Asked whether Intelsat had retasked any spare satellites in order to meet the growing demand, Mr. Potarazu said: "We have had to make some special reconfigurations to accommodate the government."

The Intelsat fixed satellite transmissions are used by all the world's major broadcasters: "If you have been watching war coverage on CNN, that traffic comes over the Intelsat system." said Mr. Potarazu. However they do not offer a mobile satellite service of the type used for the videophones. Intelsat's main control centre and TT&C (Telemetry, Tracking & Control) is in Washington D.C. where most of the satellite industry is based.

Cecile Davidson is managing director of the LyraNet Group, a Bermuda-based strategy and corporate finance advisory firm with a space and technology practice. Mrs. Davidson said:"Each and every kind of commercial satellite is playing an important role in the conflict. Inmarsat videophones enable so-called 'backpack' journalists to report from the Gulf without a camera crew and they are also used by aid agencies. Commercial imaging satellites such as DigitalGlobe, Space Imaging and Spot are providing high resolution imagery to support ongoing military operations."

According to Mrs. Davidson: "Defence dollars are helpful to the major satellite operators, many of whom are registered in Bermuda, who have experienced harsher business conditions over the past few years including increased terrestrial competition, as well as systems defects and higher insurance rates."

She added: "Bermuda has been a jurisdiction of choice for international satellite service providers and space insurers since the 1990s, and the industry turnaround will benefit the Island."

Asked what part of Intelsat's operations take place in Bermuda, Mr. Potarazu said: "Number one, that it where our parent company resides. What we do is the major procurement, sales oversight and some of the financial planning and ventures process."