Emergency Services Network to be hit by delays, warn MPs Hugely ambitious plans to replace the radio system used by the emergency services need more testing and are likely to face delays, the Public Accounts Committee has warned today. The £2.9bn Airwave contract, which dates from 2000, will be switched off at the end of 2019 and replaced by the 4G Emergency Services Network (ESN) …
It's not as if we didn't know this was coming...
There is a reason that the Airwave system is fairly expensive - the sheer resilience of the network is not something you see from a GSM carrier.
The layers of redundancy are what cost - and regularly checking those layers.
The costly bureaucracy of upgrades is, quite rightly, imposed by the customers and is arduous even for systems which are not 'radio critical'.
There is no chance of a sane replacement being put in and tested by 2020, I'd be surprised if it was fully in place by 2025.
Why not keep the TETRA network doing what it does *so* well, and have 4G data services available in addition...
Then you can trial VoLTE in specific areas, whilst keeping the TETRA option as an operational 'backup'.
Why not keep the TETRA network doing what it does *so* well, and have 4G data services available in addition...
I believe that the TETRA spectrum has already been sold to another user (MoD, IIRC) for other use, in anticipation of the Airwave service being decommissioned post ESN rollout
I believe that the TETRA spectrum has already been sold to another user (MoD, IIRC) for other use...
I have a vague recollection* that the bit of spectrum in question "belongs" to the MOD anyway, and that it is on long term loan for Police (etc) use. I daresay the loan could be extended without too much trouble...
* Or it could be my memory playing tricks. :(
As a current work user of the current Airwave system, and a current customer of EE for personal mobile I feel I am able to comment with absolute honesty about both networks.
EE's current network signal is spread very thinly and struggles to penetrate buildings, their 4G is a mess or non existent in many areas, especially rural. The network optimisation that took place when Orange and T-Mobile merged will have to be reversed in many areas to recover the level of coverage that customers once enjoyed. Their main issue is the frequencies currently used in the majority mean maintaining a useable signal indoors can be challenging. I used to have 5 bars of 3G indoors at my home, after optimisation I was left with no signal, getting a signal box was overcomplicated, but it was their arrogance and clear contempt for me as a customer that really shocked me, constantly bigging up their network whilst at the same time rebuffing the thousands of customers all screaming about the loss of service.
Airwave/Tetra - the basic network is ok(ish), coverage is a bit iffy inside some buildings, there are many buildings we are in all the time whilst working where there is zero coverage. But for the most part, they offer a reliable network which pretty much allows us to communicate 95% of the time.OK, it does not have the data capabilities that 3G/4G would offer but I would have thought this could be added at less cost than paying EE to extend their offering. The bean counters at EE must have thought all their Christmases had arrived at once! I know from speaking to other ES colleagues that the EE/ESN news was not well received amongst those of us who actually rely on the the system on a daily basis. I personally think a huge mistake has been made awarding EE this level of responsibility. Lets just say I would not be surprised to see future media headlines demanding a public enquiry when it all goes pear shaped, which based on EE/BT's track record we all know it will!
Anonymous for obvious reasons!
Airwave/Tetra - the basic network is ok(ish), coverage is a bit iffy inside some buildings, there are many buildings we are in all the time whilst working where there is zero coverage.
Things may have moved on since I retired, but it is worth pointing out that as originally specified Airwave wasn't required to work indoors. Obviously there will be some indoor coverage, but that will just be because the building in question is close enough to a cell site for the signal to be strong enough both ways.
Subterranean coverage by radio is and always was problematic, although it became markedly less so when someone developed leaky feeders and cell enhancers; there is no basis nowadays for treating it as in any way "too difficult". Expensive, perhaps, but that isn't the same as "difficult".
I know that there used to be concerns about the ambulance services (and possibly the F & R Services) having trouble moving quantities of data about because as originally conceived that data was piggy - backed on the Control Time Slot of the 4 slot model, as well as it having to manage all the background requirements of the Voice Services. Normal speech "flow control" and all sorts of interesting stuff such as Neighbour Cell Data and cell handovers more or less has to come first so packing in much "data" must be a challenge. Perhaps the system has been redesigned to put data on to a "normal" time slot since I hung up my screwdriver and the like.
As someone else has commented the band 380 - 400 MHz is much better suited to providing coverage that other frequencies that are higher by a factor or 2, 5, or any other number you care to think of. I wonder if there are penalties in the EE contract to force them to pay to extend the life of TETRA / Airwave when (rather then if) the much vaunted ESN fails to materialise on time... if at all.
And if not, why not?
"Things may have moved on since I retired, but it is worth pointing out that as originally specified Airwave wasn't required to work indoors."
No - but the capacity of TETRA radios to act as relays at least makes ad hoc 'into this shielded area' links possible. Try that with 4G...
No - but the capacity of TETRA radios to act as relays at least makes ad hoc 'into this shielded area' links possible. Try that with 4G...
When you say "relay" I assume that you mean Gateway Mode in TETRA - speak. Terminals designed for permanent installation in a vehicle can operate in Gateway, but portable terminals can not. Useful in some circumstances certainly, but not really suitable for coverage in a permanently occupied building. And again IIRC the portable terminals using the Gateway have to be in Direct Mode, which brings another level of complication (or even 2!) into the equation. ISTR trying to use Gateway once but the call set - up time was unacceptably long for reasons that I did not investigate.
"When you say "relay" I assume that you mean Gateway Mode in TETRA - speak. Terminals designed for permanent installation in a vehicle can operate in Gateway, but portable terminals can not. Useful in some circumstances certainly, but not really suitable for coverage in a permanently occupied building."
Yes I do.
Although given that many users will arrive in a vehicle which is parked just outside the building it does provide an *option* that AFAIK you cannot replicate with 4G.
It's not perfect, but it's likely better than 'sorry you've gone behind a door, you're on your own.'
Although given that many users will arrive in a vehicle which is parked just outside the building it does provide an *option* that AFAIK you cannot replicate with 4G.
If they can remember how to set it up. My experience was that unless you spent your time using (playing with!) the equipment it was be all too easy to forget some vital part of its operation. A/k/a/ Training Fade; there were regular phone calls "how do I...", along with "why..."
Airwave (TETRA) started with a specification; from that equipment that met the specification was designed and manufactured. If you start with an existing design built to an existing specification the leeway for making it do something (somethings, plural more like) not in the original spec is greatly limited.
I sincerely hope that EE are not trying that approach; if they are then I expect an epic fail.
One of the issues is the FUD being sewn by all the parties involved. Speak to EE and it will exaggerate how good it's 4G coverage is while deriding Airwave's. The physics say that a 400MHz Tetra system *has* to give better rural coverage.
The state of the ESN is no surprise. Kat and I wrote about this over two years ago.
If you really want to get those involved looking at their shoes ask about London Underground. There are discussions about putting in a dedicated LTE network or going back to the 1970s with FM, but given that the Underground's Connect project took eleven years to roll out a three year install - and only got emergency access at all as a result of the 7/7 bombings, the idea of moving off Tetra anytime soon is farcical.
There's an interesting thing in the official report into 7/7, where they talk about how emergency services were able to use their Airwave TETRA radios on London Underground's TETRA network.
It's noted that the two sets of equipment are compatible and interoperable, but this is entirely a happy coincidence of procurement; compatibility with the emergency services' Airwave network wasn't a factor when London Underground procured their TETRA network - it was just a coincidence that they picked the some tech as used for Airwave.
The "happy coincidence" of Connect and Airwave talking to one another is even greater than portrayed.
Even with both using the same technology the nature of the Public Private Partnership (PPP) by which Connect was funded meant that it was expected that the political nature of TfL meant the two would never talk to one another.
Connect was a complete financial disaster for the companies which took part in the PPP, so when it was muted that the terms be changed to allow Airwave access it found that the institutions who'd lost money would only agree if they could use agreeing to the change as a lever for financial recompense. (old contemporary blog here: http://www.catkeynes.com/CS00006.html)
The result of the 7/7 bombing was that the changes could be made with less haggling.
There's an interesting thing in the official report into 7/7, where they talk about how emergency services were able to use their Airwave TETRA radios on London Underground's TETRA network.
Have you got a link to that report? I ask because just because the "technology" is identical there is no guarantee that a terminal from one system will function on another. There is a whole host of bits of software that have to exist in common. Firstly both systems have to share the same Switched Management Infrastructure (SWMI) and both have to have the same Mobile Network Code (MNC) and the Talkgroup data (GSSIs) has to be programmed into both and the individual terminals have to have their ISSIs programmed into both.
It is most definitely not a simple case of turning up with e TETRA radio and switching on "plug and play" style. So a link to the report please!
If it all did indeed work it was only as a result of a lot of prior planning, not happenstance.
...which doesn't even have terrestrial TV service (narrow, steep valley) now has a shiny new 4G tower under construction and ready to commission. The site was previously identified for TETRA/Airwave but they never got round to building a tower, but it looks like ESN does actually need one there.
As long as the locals get 4G mobile (which will be better than the 0G coverage they get now!) they'll be happy.
"It also warned the Home Office has not budgeted for an extended transition period, which would cost an estimated £475m for a year’s delay nationwide."
It was expected to save £3.6 billion over 17 years, or around £210 million per year. So if there is a year's delay that costs us two years of savings and correspondingly extends the payback time.
I appreciate it's sometimes necessary to spend money to save money but, when the cost and risks are so high and the savings so small, I wonder why they bother. I suppose it keeps people in work
Full marks to whichever chap/chapess at Motorola took one look at The Great Airwave Replacement Debacle and decided that Airwave was a good buy for ~ £1.2Bn (IIRC). Endless delays @ £475M per year will soon see that come back. Here, have a pint.
Although TBF, Macquarie has also done well over the years - bought the business for £1.9Bn back when Telefonica was looking to claw some cash back after the O2 purchase, run it for years, then sold it for £1.2...
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