LTE  |  2021-07-14

European Public Safety Broadband Communications Infrastructure Project Broadway Reaches New Milestone

Source: The Critical Communications Review | Gert Jan Wolf editor

After evaluation of the end of phase deliverables, the Group of Procurers awarded a successful status to all three consortia.

28 June 2021 marked the official end of the Solution Prototype Phase (Phase 2) of the BroadWay PCP, with the notification of end of phase 2 results to the three competing consortia - Airbus DS, Frequentis AG and Leonardo S.p.A. Throughout Phase 2, the consortia were tasked with developing, installing, technically testing and practitioner evaluation of their prototypes. The consortia were subject to regular monitoring during Phase 2, which culminated in technical testing and evaluation of their solutions in April, and submission of end of phase reports shortly afterwards.

After evaluation of the end of phase deliverables, the Group of Procurers awarded a successful status to all three consortia, meaning that they were subsequently invited to participate in the call-off competition for entry into the Pilot Phase (Phase 3), which launched on 30 June 2021. The consortia have until Monday 2 August 2021 to submit individual offers in which they address an updated set of objectives set by the Group of Procurers for the development of live pilot systems within the scope of Phase 3.

The Group of Procurers will evaluate the offers and select a maximum of 2 consortia for Phase 3. The consortia will be tasked with taking their prototypes into live useable pilot systems that will be further evaluated by practitioner evaluation team.

The Pilot Phase is due to commence in early October and will run until summer 2022. The final BroadWay pilot is required to reach Technology Readiness Level 8 representing a ‘complete’ and fully operational system achieving the best performance possible for all 11 BroadWay Objectives.

As recently stated in its conclusions of the 7th of June 2021, the Council emphasizes the importance of secure operational and EU interoperable communication for law enforcement agencies and other security practitioners to be able to properly protect and respond in case of cross-border cooperation in the area of public spaces and major events’, and ‘invites member states to further support EU initiatives aiming at the improvement of existing systems and EU-wide interoperable communication systems for public security, notably the Horizon 2020 BroadWay project’

The BroadWay Group of Procurers includes 11 ministries or their delegated agency responsible for providing public safety communication capabilities in their country. They currently provide mobile communication services to 1.4 million responders across Europe. The countries involved in the BroadWay PCP include: Belgium, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Italy, Ireland, The Netherlands, Romania and Spain.

The BroadWay PCP is coordinated by Public Safety Communication Europe Forum (PSCE) and has received funding from the European Commission Horizon 2020 programme (grant number 786912). You can follow the BroadWay PCP on the project website – www.broadway-info.eu.