Firelink, the procuring body for the national communications contract, today confirmed that O2 Airwave has been successful in the bid to equip all fire and rescue services across England with a new resilient and secure voice and data communications service. The company will work with the Firelink ODPM team to conclude final contract matters in the near future.
The announcement comes prior to contract award, which is expected before the end of the year.
Fire Minister, Jim Fitzpatrick, said: “We are investing heavily in the fire and rescue service to ensure that it is able to meet the challenges of the modern world. Today’s announcement is a major milestone in achieving this.
“Firelink will transform the current arrangements and give the service, for the very first time, the same digital radio system across the country – a system that will enable firefighters to communicate not only between fireand rescue services but also with the other emergency services, regardless
of location.”
Jeff Parris, Vice President for O2 Airwave, commented: “Today’s announcement gives us an opportunity to prove that we can provide the nation’s Fire Services with the very best in communications. We look forwardto working closely with the Firelink team over the next few weeks.”
The Airwave service has been taken up by 182 Public Safety Organisations including all police forces throughout the UK and all English Ambulance rusts. The Fire and Rescue Services would become the third major emergency service on the network.
Airwave own the bi din the face of competition from rival bidder EADS, which was promoting its rival bid based on Tetrapol technology rather than Airwave’s TETRA based system.