Norway Secretary of State Paul K. Lønseth: Justice Department finds no reason to doubt the Tetra or Emergency Network project.

Norway Secretary of State Paul K. Lønseth: Justice Department finds no reason to doubt the Tetra or Emergency Network project.

In recent weeks, the new Norwegian emergency network based on Tetra technology received many inquiries and debates in Computer World.

Many people have spoken highly critical of both the technology and process.

But Norway's political leadership is satisfied with the results and progress and trust fully in the Directorate for Emergency Communication (DNK). They also reject the need for an investigation of the Auditor General, as several have asked for.

The Emergency Network project has been the subject of extensive debate for more than ten years, and perhaps for that very reason there are few other projects that have been correspondingly assessed and evaluated both before and during implementation. The OAG has also followed the project for many years with annual audits, says State Secretary of Justice and Emergency Department Paul K. Lønseth to Computer World.

According to the State Secretary the Public Safety Network is used everyday by thousands of workers in emergency services. The feedback the ministry receives is that the transition to Nødnett mainly represents a major quality improvement, and that both the availability, coverage, capacity and sound quality is far better than the old analog networks.

Directorate for Emergency Communication (DNK) has also initiated a process to consider the need for robustness further, including through cooperation with power supply. In addition, participants experience sessions with users to ensure optimum use of the network. Justice and Emergency Services will follow up these measures.

Regarding the construction of the new emergency network the Ministry is also satisfied.

According to Secretary of State there is nothing to suggest that the goal to complete the network in 2015 will not be reached. Then the radio lines in Norway and Sweden tied together, which implies a further gain for emergency services.

- It is expressed in Computerworld that the opportunities for video transmission is critically needed in the emergency network. Then it is important to be aware that there are emergency services themselves have defined the requirements based on their needs. They, in turn, emphasized that they need a reliable and encrypted telecommunications. The choice of Tetra is made on the basis of these requirements, and we note that the choice made by most countries in Europe over the past 10-12 years, with all our neighboring countries, says Lønseth.

But there might be a need for development of additional services.

There is speculation that in the future may be appropriate to use the new mobile technology LTE in conjunction with Tetra for data transmission in the emergency services. This is an interesting topic, and the Directorate for Emergency Communication is monitoring these developments on behalf of the state.

- However, it is clear that a potential future scenario, where the vendors themselves indicate that the technology will not be fully developed until about 5-10 years, in no way undermines the fact that Tetra today, regarded as the only available technology for secure and robust emergency communications. The situation has not changed since the Parliament treated Nødnett case in 2006 and 2011, said State Secretary Paul K. Lønseth.

Source: Computer World