07 March 2019

GREAT BRITAIN - The UK Government has decided on what it described as a “new strategic direction” for an LTE-based Emergency Services Network (ESN) that should have begun to be deployed last year.

In 2015, it was announced that the TETRA communications system used by the UK’s emergency services and supplied by Motorola Solutions and Airwave would be replaced with a mobile-based communications network that uses LTE (see World News, Jan-Feb 2016). 

Rollouts were expected to begin in mid-2017, but in September, the UK’s Home Office announced that the project will now be launched in phases starting in the New Year. 

The government said its new incremental approach means police, fire and rescue, ambulance crews and other users will be able to use data services over the network from early 2019, with voice capabilities following soon after.

It added that it will also leave the emergency services free to test and choose which ESN products they want as and when they become available, rather than having to wait for the network to be fully implemented.

The Home Office is engaging with its commercial partners, mobile operator EE and Motorola Solutions, regarding future changes to their contracts.