Victorian Emergency Services Extend Investment in Advanced, Mission-Critical Communications

Motorola Solutions Australia will expand and upgrade the mission-critical radio network serving Victoria Police, Ambulance Victoria and the Metropolitan Fire Brigade.

The Partnerships Victoria managed service contract has been extended for seven years (valued at AUD $261 million) with an opportunity to extend for a further five years. This will extend Motorola Solutions’ delivery of mission-critical voice communications to the State of Victoria beyond 20 years.

In addition to upgrading the Metropolitan Mobile Radio network (MMR), Motorola Solutions will provide enhanced data services and incremental safety features including GPS and location services, enabling agencies to better manage their vehicles and personnel. The service will also provide customised online reporting, giving agencies valuable information about their radio network usage.

Motorola Solutions will continue to deliver new innovation to the service, including a trial of its software-defined push-to-talk solution to extend radio network access to more users via broadband.

The upgrade will also provide public safety agencies with a strategic interface to their Triple Zero emergency call and dispatch systems, enabling them to access more services and data-based capabilities over time.

Strong reliability and performance to continue

The MMR network commenced operation in 2005, providing mission-critical, digitally encrypted voice communication for emergency services throughout greater metropolitan Melbourne.Since then the network has consistently met and exceeded service levels, including stringent availability targets to provide Victorian public safety agencies with a highly secure and reliable service.

Victorian first responders depend on the mission-critical MMR service every day. They made more than 40 million push-to-talk voice transmission calls across the network in 2017.

The network enables the three agencies to communicate seamlessly with one another for enhanced emergency response and 24/7 support from Motorola Solutions’ Melbourne-based control centre. Later this year, Victoria State Emergency Service, Corrections Victoria and Life Saving Victoria will also join the network.

Motorola Solutions Vice President and Managing Director, Steve Crutchfield, said the MMR network would continue to provide Victoria’s emergency services with the best technology to meet their daily operational needs while enabling them to be more responsive to major emergencies.

“Emergency services depend on having ‘always on’, secure and reliable communications for their daily work,” Crutchfield said.

“For the past 13 years the MMR network has provided essential communications for Victoria’s first responders when they have needed it most. This includes uninterrupted coverage during Victoria’s tragic Black Saturday bushfires in 2009 and reliable performance during many other major emergencies.”

Crutchfield said the upgrade will also keep Victoria’s emergency services at the forefront of technology innovation with access to the latest software and radio equipment and full-lifecycle support to keep technology up-to-date.