Helsingin Energia joins the VIRVE TETRA network
Helsingin Energia and Suomen Virveverkko Oy have recently signed a network service agreement. Based on this agreement, the radio signal of the HelenNet network will be transmitted on the national authority network, VIRVE's, frequency
HelenNet is an underground tunnel network managed by power company Helsingin Energia. This change will expand the radio coverage of the VIRVE network to cover the approximately 56km of tunnels and other key premises owned by Helsingin Energia. The agreement will have no effect on personnel.
A joint project has been launched to bring Helen Group into the VIRVE network. Once the project has been completed, the VIRVE network radio frequency will be available in Helsinki's underground tunnels. Participants in this joint project are Suomen Virveverkko Oy, the National Emergency Supply Agency and Helsingin Energia.
One of the objectives is to assess whether the VIRVE radio network has sufficient capacity to accommodate the growing number of users in the Helsinki Region. The HelenNet network currently includes around 1,500 radio telephone subscriptions, with users spread evenly throughout the metropolitan Helsinki area. The VIRVE network's messaging volumes have been analysed and its messaging capacity calculated to ensure that it can meet the radio telephone communication needs of the security authorities in the Helsinki region.
“Switching to the VIRVE network is consistent with our current ICT strategy, will improve occupational safety in the tunnel network and will ensure efficient communication with the authorities above ground and in the energy tunnels. We will continue to operate the terrestrial HelenNet network in Helsinki until 2015, in order to give our existing external HelenNet customers sufficient time to switch to our new communication services,” explains Pekka Manninen, Managing Director of Helsingin Energia.
“We are delighted to be able to offer the Helen Group a new concept for radio communication and to enable the authorities to use the VIRVE network frequency in Helsinki's underground tunnels. We will provide VIRVE radio telephone services to other HelenNet customers with authorised access to the VIRVE network; this will improve service availability for users nationwide and enable close cooperation between customers and the security authorities,” comments Jarmo Vinkvist, CEO, Suomen Virveverkko Oy.
“We have been actively involved in the maintenance and development of VIRVE service infrastructure for a long time. This new extension is an important and natural enhancement to this. Ensuring the safety of commuter traffic is one of the major benefits and also important from the perspective of the emergency supply’s new objectives”, says Ilkka Kananen, Chief Executive Officer of the National Emergency Supply Agency.
