An overview of the Nationwide TETRA networks in Europe
Three other states are planning TETRA networks, Greece, Italy and Luxembourg and the German BOS network will be with 500,000 users the world's largest of its kind.
Currently,
in addition to Germany eight more European countries are currently building their
nationwide TETRA networks: Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Norway, Serbia,
Romania, Slovenia and Macedonia. Three other states are planning TETRA networks, Greece, Italy and Luxembourg.
In thirteen
European countries - Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Great Britain,
Hungary, Iceland, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden, Ireland
and Montenegro, their nationwide TETRA network is in operation. In Iceland, the network is built, however, only in the urban areas in the Southern part of the country.
The German BOS digital TETRA radio network will be with 500,000 users the world's largest of its kind. The
advantages of the digital network will benefit all authorities and organizations with
security tasks (BOS) - eg. Federal and state police forces, fire departments, emergency services, agencies for technical aid and customs authorities. 
Systems engineering decisions in Europe
There
are many reasons why countries have opted for the
TETRA standard as the basis for wireless networks of their respective
security authorities. In
summary, it can be stated that the TETRA standard was developed for the particular
requirements of the Public Safety organizations. The
other, technology that has also been developed for professional mobile telecommunications, is the TETRAPOL
standard.
The basic decision for choosing TETRA or TETRAPOL technology does not always apply for nationwide networs. For example, in Spain, a TETRAPOL etwork is used by the local "Federal Police" used
("Guardia Civil"). The police in the Basque Country, however uses a
private TETRA network. And while the Czech Republic has decided in principle to go for TETRAPOL, the city of Prague is using TETRA.
