Good news on Airwave job security

Telecoms & Financial Services, Airwave November 12 2018

Further delays to the rollout of the new emergency services network (ESN) that will ultimately replace the current radio wave-based communications system mean that, as yet, there’s no end in sight for the vital public safety work that is conducted by members in Airwave.

The first phase of an already delayed switch-on of the successor network was supposed to happen in September last year – but 14 months on there’s still no certainty when that will occur, with developmental work still underway to overcome a raft of reliability and robustness issues.

Prone to failure in mobile ‘not-spots’ and not currently able to function in tunnels, hopes are now resting on a new protocol developed by a US company that was acquired by Motorola Solutions last year.

To allow for the further developmental work required, in September the Home Office reached an agreement with Motorola to extend the contract for the delayed ESN network – which will ultimately be operated by EE – through to the end of 2024.

For the time being, however, the UK emergency services’ communications needs will continue to be served by Airwave – which is also owned by Motorola. Even once the rollout of the new ESN commences, it will be down to the various blue-light services to decide how quickly they move their communications needs over to the new system once they are confident it fully serves their purposes.

“While the Government has not yet extended the current Airwave contract, which expires in 2019, it’s now inevitable that Airwave will continue to provide the bulwark of the emergency services’ communications needs until 2022 at the earliest,” stresses CWU assistant secretary John East.

“Now its clear that Airwave’s world-class radio-based communications network is going to be around for some years to come, a number of its users have resumed placing orders for replacement handsets – and that substantial capital investment is, in itself, certain to bolster the longevity of the Airwave system.

“The net result is that, despite all the uncertainty of recent years, there’s still clearly a long way to go before the Tetra network is switched off.

“While we were deeply concerned about our Airwave members’ future when the Coalition Government served notice on the emergency services contract way back in 2015, the secure communications network our members provide is still as essential as it always was, with no indication that will change anytime soon.

John concludes: “As we approach 2019 the good news is that Airwave is still very much there, still recruiting as individuals leave and our earlier concerns on job security concerns have proved very premature indeed.

“Even once the switchover to a 4G ESN finally gets underway, the fact that Airwave is now part of Motorola – which is itself central to the rollout of the replacement ESN – means our members are now part of a large company that has many other contracts – providing other potential workstreams when the switch-off of the Tetra network finally occurs.