Airbus wants to create Broadband Virtual Mobile Operator for Public Safety in Mexico

Airbus, technology supplier for Mexico’s nationwide mission-critical Tetrapol network IRIS (Red Nacional de Radiocomunicación de Misión Crítica Tetrapol), wants to create the first broadband virtual mobile operator for public safety in Mexico. Airbus selected Nokia as technology partner. The liaison aims at offering Secure Mobile Virtual Network Operator (Secure MVNO) solutions for the future shared network. Secure MVNO allows trusted mobile access to broadband operators. As a result, fire fighters and police officers can use multimedia applications on their radios.

Fred Gallart, Head of Sales & Program Delivery Latin America of Secure Land Communications at Airbus, says: “This strategic partnership will be very beneficial for public safety entities at all three levels of government which are already using Mexico’s Red Nacional de Radiocomunicación de Misión Crítica Tetrapol.” This cooperation with Nokia also ensures that the governments’ cumulative investments in Tetrapol over the past 17 years keep their value by gradually migrating towards LTE.

Airbus has a wealth of experience in the field of radio communications for public safety and civil protection in the country. Currently, the Red Nacional de Radiocomunicación de Misión Crítica Tetrapol, better known as the IRIS network, provides an encrypted radiocommunications service to more than 200,000 users, including the federal police, the decentralised administrative agency for prevention and social rehabilitation (OADPRS), the 32 states of the Mexican Republic and around 200 municipalities.

“We are very pleased to have been chosen as a technology partner of Airbus for its service as Secure MVNO. Nokia will provide its innovative Mini Compact Core, specifically designed for private LTE networks, which offers specialised fourth generation services. For instance, these are prioritisation of public safety voice, data and video traffic over normal traffic, secure subscriber management and separation of emergency traffic,” says Marcelo Entreconti, Head of Sales at Nokia for Global Enterprises and Public Sector in Latin America.This solution, deployed on the shared network in Mexico, would make Airbus the first mobile virtual broadband operator in the country specialising in public safety broadband services (Secure MVNO).

The IRIS network covers 85 per cent of the population, 75 per cent of roads and 50 per cent of Mexico’s national territory. The coverage provided by the national IRIS network is one of the most extensive in the country, where in some areas it exceeds the coverage of the major mobile networks.