NZ's Public Safety Network reaches build phase

New Zealand Police Minister Chris Hipkins has confirmed that a new digital communications network for emergency service workers will roll out from next year, marking the most significant advance in the country’s public safety communications in decades.

The Public Safety Network is set to deliver emergency responders with a single secure digital radio network as well as a multi-network priority cellular broadband capability — including voice, video, messaging and data. Together, these technologies will help meet the ever-increasing data and information needs of frontline staff as they are out and about serving the community.

“This infrastructure investment is significant and is what New Zealand’s frontline workers deserve,” Hipkins said. “It will help keep them and the public safe by giving them reliable and secure coverage in urban, state highway and rural areas.

“New Zealand’s emergency services are made up of approximately 35,000 staff and volunteers who attend over 5 million calls for help every year. They need to be able to respond at any time, and in any part of New Zealand, and for that they need accurate and timely information.”

Hipkins said progressing the Public Safety Network to the build phase has required a significant collaborative effort among the four emergency services — New Zealand Police, Fire and Emergency New Zealand, Hato Hone St John and Wellington Free Ambulance. He said the network will give these services the ability to communicate with each other more effectively during emergency incidents and could also be expanded for other government users in the future.

“It gives us enormous confidence to know the Public Safety Network has been designed to operate as the ‘last network standing’ in the event of a significant natural disaster and that emergency services will have priority network access in such an event where there is congestion and degradation,” said a joint statement from the heads of the four emergency services.

“The Public Safety Network will support our respective services to continue collaborating with each other on everyday responses but also help us prepare for a likely future of more climate-related emergencies.”

Delivering the Public Safety Network is a significant infrastructure project, investing NZ$1.4 billion over 10 years to build and operate the network, roll out new devices to emergency services staff, stations and vehicles, and decommission the existing network. The contract to build and maintain the digital land mobile radio network has been awarded to Tait Kordia Joint Venture (a joint venture between Tait Communications and Kordia) and is set to feature more than 450 sites covering the vast majority of New Zealand’s population. Hourua (a Vodafone–Spark joint venture) will meanwhile build and run the prioritised cellular services and roaming solution.

Emergency services will start transitioning to cellular services from mid-2023 and land mobile radio as a regional rollout from 2024.