据英国官员称，围绕紧急服务网络的延迟和不确定性意味着，一些英国公共安全人员可能会2022年12月的目标日期之后至少多需要一年的Airway TETRA网络，以使摩托罗拉解决方案拥有的系统退役
. 英国内政部官员最初计划让全国范围的ESN公共安全LTE系统投入运行，并今年年底淘汰昂贵的无线系统。去年秋天，英国内政部宣布，它与摩托罗拉解决方案公司达成了一项协议，将无线电视的使用寿命延长三年，这项协议已于今年春天签署
据英国官员称，围绕紧急服务网络（ESN）的延迟和不确定性意味着，一些英国公共安全人员可能会2022年12月的目标日期之后至少多需要一年的Airway TETRA网络，以使摩托罗拉解决方案拥有的系统退役
英国内政部官员最初计划让全国范围的ESN公共安全LTE系统投入运行，并今年年底淘汰昂贵的无线系统。去年秋天，英国内政部宣布，它与摩托罗拉解决方案公司（motorolasolutions）达成了一项协议，将无线电视的使用寿命延长三年，这项协议已于今年春天签署
英国国家审计署（National Audit）最近发布的一份报告显示，虽然延长合同使英国急救人员对airvave未来三年内提供TETRA按键通话语音通信的可用性有了一定的把握，但它也将ESN项目的预算超支延长至31亿英镑以上办公室（NAO）
英国内政部ESN的高级负责人stephenwebb说，最新的计划包括应急资金，用于支付2022年12月以后的一年的airvave。英国内政部希望更多地了解目前设定为27个月的过渡期，不过一些公共安全官员认为，分别于今年7月和年底开始进行的两套ESN按键通话测试后，从Airway到ESN需要4年时间
韦伯英国议会公共账户委员会（PAC）听证会上说：“这27个月是我们所说的2022年底全国性关闭（Airway）的日子，但这确实是一个‘不早于’的日子。”。“商业案例中实际的93亿英镑（英镑）数字包括一项意外开支，而且是以2023年底前后为前提的，它假设这可能需要更长一年的时间。这是我们目前的假设。一旦我们与用户合作，我们会更好地意识到这是多么现实。”
菲利浦·鲁特南爵士于2017年4月被任命为内政部常任秘书长，此前不久，内政部获准延长9个月的时限。鲁特南说，他很快意识到，他被任命后不久，ESN计划就面临“压力”，而且可能会进一步拖延
鲁特南PAC听证会上说：“这确实给我敲响了一个警告，那就是我们刚刚这个项目中增加了9个月，现项目中最资深的人都说，‘这可能还不够’。”。“这是我真正关心的问题……让我担心的是，我们（获准）又多了9个月，坏消息来得太快了。”
Rutnam还指出，ESN的合同结构是“不同寻常的”。英国蜂窝运营商EE与合同约定为ESN提供网络基础设施，而摩托罗拉解决方案公司负责为英国公共安全LTE系统提供推送通话和其他软件解决方案
“回到2015年之前，当采购到位时，这是一种高度分门别类的方案交付方式，这使得部门作为系统集成商一直扮演着更重要的角色，并负责管理多种供应商，鲁特南说。“所以，没有总承包商，就像你其他环境中所熟悉的那样。”
韦伯解释说，延迟超过9个月的说法是2017年春季EE和Motorola Solutions进行的一次令人沮丧的软件测试“揭示了该计划中的一整套问题”。一个主要问题是，EE正测试基于LTE Release 12的网络基础设施，而摩托罗拉WAVE push-to-talk产品就是基于此LTE版本10
PAC主席Meg Hillier指出，即使不是技术专家的人也明白，不同技术版本上运行的系统可能存兼容性问题，并质疑为什么网络和软件版本之间的差异“没有给ESN项目的负责人敲响更大的警钟”
韦伯说：“我认为我们还没有意识到这会产生多大的影响。“我们知道摩托罗拉已经使用了这个（3GPP）版本10…直到我们真正看到这个现场测试，才真正清楚问题有多严重。我完全接受
“我想我们很早就知道第10版和第12版是有区别的。我们不明白的是，让这一系统商业网络上工作有多重要，而不是私人4G网络上运行，以及它以后会造成多少问题。”
据韦伯称，这一事件导致参与ESN项目的人之间的关系“变得非常断裂”，内政部和摩托罗拉解决方案公司的官员当时“互相假设最坏”。事实上，韦伯承认，当英国官员2017年秋天访问位于芝加哥的摩托罗拉解决方案总部讨论情况时，他正质疑ESN的技术可行性
韦伯说：“那是与摩托罗拉顶尖团队的一次开创性的会议。“我认为这让他们明白了我们这方面的担忧。他们消除了我们的一些顾虑。他们承认了早期质量方面的一些问题，并解释了他们美国的测试机构软件离开美国之前正做什么来提高软件的质量
“我们当时关注的标准化道路上取得了很大进展，尤其是安全架构。这仍然是一个相当令人担忧的问题，也是转向科迪亚克的幕后推手。”
事实上，摩托罗拉解决方案公司（Motorola Solution）最近完成了对Kodiak的收购，该公司为美国的AT T、Verizon和Sprint等运营商以及全球其他运营商提供运营商集成的按键通话解决方案。虽然向Kodiak的转移增加了项目的额外延迟，并导致一些已完成的工作需要重做，但韦伯说，他相信使用已经被证明运营商网络上有效的Kodiak技术给内政部“相当高的信心”，即ESN技术上是可行的
Webb说，Kodiak按键通话解决方案的初步现场测试计划于7月开始，届时ESN Direct应用程序是一款专为“不太关键的场景”设计的按键通话产品，“根据a关于ESN的英国政府网站——将由大约120名移民和边境人员使用，以评估基本功能。今年晚些时候，将对推送通话服务进行另一次测试，以评估“与无线解决方案的互通以及与控制室的集成，”韦伯说
英国国家审计署（National Audit Office）今年5月发布的报告对科迪亚克（Kodiak）产品能否完全满足英国急救人员的按键通话需求表示谨慎
NAO的报告指出：“开发ESN服务的过程中，很明显摩托罗拉的Wave 7000‘按键通话’产品不能满足用户的需求。”。“2017年，摩托罗拉购买了Kodiak push-to-talk产品，这是一个理论上的改进，因为它符合EE使用的国际电信标准。不过，该系统仍需要大量的开发和测试，最早要到2020年才能满足用户需求。”
NAO的报告还指出，“Kodiak目前没有被紧急服务部门使用，但预计将被美国国家FirstNet紧急服务项目采用”，参考了美国AT T承包商正建设的FirstNet公共安全LTE系统
Kodiak的蜂窝推送通话产品目前可供FirstNet客户使用，公共安全人员主要用于增强其陆地移动无线电（LMR）通信，尤其是其管辖范围之外。然而，FirstNet推出至少满足3GPP标准机构批准的任务关键型按键通话（MCPTT）标准之前，美国大多数公共安全机构都没有考虑更换LMR系统的计划
AT T官员表示，FirstNet用户将可以选择多家供应商，2019年第二年提供“完全符合3GPP的MCPTT解决方案”。AT T去年完成了MCPTT供应商的RFP选择过程，但迄今尚未公布任何结果
3GPP采取了前所未有的行动，制定了MCPTT标准以及MCData和MCVideo标准，以满足全球第一响应者的需求，特别是LTE版本12、13和14中。许多关键案例中，这项标准的推动是由英国官员主导的
鲁特南说：“英国为这项服务设计和开发3GPP国际标准方面起着至关重要的作用，因此它们更适合我们的需要。”
尽管这是英国标准的焦点，但NAO报告中并未提及“关键任务推送谈话”和“MCPTT”两个术语，也没有PAC听证会上提及ESN计划
英国政府的ESN网站描述了一款名为ESN Prime的未来产品，该产品将提供“全套公共安全通信服务，包括关键语音推送通话、短信和视频，其目标客户是准备开始远离无线电波的组织。根据NAO报告中的图表，ESN Prime计划于2020年10月上市
摩托罗拉解决方案部的一位官员4月份告诉IWCE的紧急通信部，最新的Kodiak解决方案符合“我们目前可用的MCPTT标准的各个方面”PTT elements—one that has been a problem through the LTE community—is proximity services (ProSe), the direct-mode communications technology specified by 3GPP to support communications between LTE devices when connectivity to an LTE network is not available.
Samsung has stated that it has developed a ProSe chipset, but it has not released any information to date on the performance of the technology. No other vendor has announced that a ProSe chipset as being available.
Another problem for the Home Office is coverage. To match the coverage provided by Airwave, the Home Office assumed the responsibility of building 292 cell sites to augment the coverage provided by EE’s commercial network build, which is close to meeting the terms of the contract. However, only two of the projected 292 Home Office cell sites have been built to date, according to the NAO report.
Even if the ESN delivers the promised functionality, Home Office officials have stated that the Airwave shutdown will not happen until public-safety agencies accept the ESN service as a suitable replacement—something that all acknowledged as a major challenge, especially because it is more subjective than meeting a technical requirement.
PAC member Lee Rowley asked whether the Home Office had the power to retire the Airwave system, even if some first responders don’t support the move. Rutnam said the Home Office plans to work with public-safety agencies, if a dispute arises about the ESN’s.
“The reality is that what will happen is more discussion and more effort to reach a resolution,” Rutnam said. “That is the reality. We’re not going to be in the business of threatening to deprive emergency services of their vital communication.
“This is the nature of the relationship—whether we like it or not—between the Home Office and the emergency services. We’re both dependent on each other, … which is why building user confidence is so fundamental.”
Rowley expressed support for the Home Office goal of public-safety unanimity but said he is concerned about having to fund additional Airwave contract extensions, even if the ESN is a technically viable alternative.
“The statements you’re giving me scare me quite a lot,” Rowley said. “All of those things, taken together, mean that—in an extreme scenario—you’ll never sign this [Airwave system] off. So, what’s the point in doing it? You will be running Airwave forever—out of those 470 organizations, at least one will say ‘No.’
“You can’t reconcile all of these statements. I don’t mind which one you change, but you can’t reconcile them. And we will be here in two years’ time, saying, ‘There’s a billion-and-a-half-pound cost here,’ if we’re not careful … You may be doing this, but you need to give me more confidence that you’re doing it. Because I see a brick wall, as it’s being explained today.”
Rutnam acknowledged Rowley’s concerns but reiterated that the Home Office will take the steps necessary to ensure that UK public-safety agencies have confidence in the ESN.
“I understand the risk that you’re talking about, but I’m trying very hard—we’re trying very hard—to avoid this crystallizing into a standoff,” Rutnam said. “That would be bad, I think, for all of the parties.”
Other ESN issues that still need to be addressed include an air-to-ground solution, in-vehicle devices and integration with control rooms (the UK equivalent of 911 centers in the U.S.), according to the NAO report.
“The Home Office will not be able to switch Airwave off until all control rooms are upgraded, which depends upon work done by the emergency services, their control room suppliers and suppliers of associated systems, but it has no way to ensure this work aligns with ESN plans,” the NAO report states. “Any changes will be managed and contracted by the emergency services, under various funding arrangements.”
No matter what the reasons, it is very likely that the UK government will need to pay Motorola Solutions to continue Airwave service beyond the current target date at the end of 2022. The fact that Motorola Solutions is the vendor designated to deliver the ESN push-to-talk software to replace Airwave—a TETRA service that delivers Motorola Solutions much more in annual revenue than ESN would provide—has been a point of concern for many UK officials since Motorola Solutions purchased Airwave shortly after winning the ESN software contract.
“The Home Office will need to manage carefully the commercial consequences of renewing Airwave before changes to the Motorola contract have been agreed,” according to the NAO report, which was released shortly before the contract extending Airwave through December 2022 was signed. “Motorola will benefit from the successful development of ESN, but it also receives large revenues from the continued use of Airwave.
“Following its acquisitions of Airwave and Kodiak, Motorola owns several key components of the current and future emergency services communications systems, putting it at an advantage over any competitors when the ESN contract is renewed in 2024. Motorola is also a control-room vendor, potential supplier of handsets and vehicle devices and in charge of accrediting devices and control rooms for ESN.”
Although there is a budgetary contingency to extend Airwave an extra year, the terms of such an extension remain subject to a negotiation, particularly if Motorola Solution must invest money to upgrade the TETRA system to ensure that it meets the needs of emergency services in the UK, according to Joanna Davinson, the chief digital, data and technology for the Home Office.
“It will be a negotiation, but we will have to agree with Motorola on the scope that needs to be extended,” Davinson said during the PAC hearing. “Is it everything, or is it part of the solution? Clearly, if we’ve already rolled out [ESN] in parts of the country, we wouldn’t want to extend the entire network.
“We would have to agree on a price, and that would depend on whether there does need to be further upgrades or enhancements of the Airwave system for tech refresh. And some of that will depend on if we are extending for 6, 9 or 12 months. It will be a very different conversation, if we have to extend for further than that.”
But PAC member Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown said he does not like the government’s negotiation position, if any kind of Airwave extension deal is necessary. Currently, the cost of extending Airwave costs the UK government about 620 million pounds each year, he said.
“It does seem to me that, if you have any substantial amount of Airwave usage left [when an extension deal is needed for service beyond 2022], Motorola will inevitably say to you, ‘I’m sorry, we’ve got to invest a lot of money to do this. We’re putting the price up considerably,’” Clifton-Brown said during the PAC hearing. “You’ve lost your leverage, haven’t you really?”
Davinson said, “We will have a negotiation.”
Clifton-Brown replied, “You will have a negotiation, but you’ve lost the leverage.”
Despite the technical and financial challenges associated with establishing the ESN, Webb said he believes completing the UK’s nationwide public-safety LTE network remains the best available option.
“If you believe this is technically possible at all, there’s almost no circumstances where it would make sense to remain with Airwave,” Webb said. “Even if you assume it would be possible to keep TETRA going well into the 2030s—which I don’t think anybody really believes—the big cost drivers don’t change, whether you transition to an ESN now or in five or in ten years.”
Rutnam echoed this sentiment.
“We continue to anticipate very large financial savings associated with being able to switch off Airwave and relying on the new network—it will be on the order of halving [the annual costs],” Rutnam said. “We think the business case continues to be resilient in that scenario.
“There are a couple of other points I’d add. The first is that, from a practical perspective, I think if we lose courage now and stop this process, … then I would predict that—at some point, in a smallish number of years—the government of the day would come back to the question of how to replace Airwave. A second point that is linked … is that, as the program has gone on, more and more countries have started to do the same things—France, Finland, the U.S., Denmark.”
ESN Programme Director Bryan Clark is scheduled to deliver an update about the public-safety LTE system as one of the featured morning keynotes at the Mission Critical Technologies (MCT) event in London on June 12.
Delays and uncertainties surrounding the Emergency Services Network (ESN) mean that some United Kingdom (UK) public-safety personnel likely will need the Airwave TETRA network for at least one extra year beyond the current December 2022 target date to retire the Motorola Solutions-owned system, according to UK officials.
UK Home Office officials initially planned to have the nationwide ESN public-safety LTE system operational and retire the expensive Airwave system at the end of this year. Last fall, the Home Office announced that it reached an agreement with Motorola Solutions to extend the life of the Airwave for three years—a deal that was signed this spring.
While the contract extension provides UK first responders with some certainty about the availability for Airwave to provide TETRA push-to-talk voice communications for the next three years, it also extends the budget overage for the ESN project to more than 3.1 billion pounds, according to a report recently released by the UK’s National Audit Office (NAO).
Stephen Webb, the senior responsible owner for ESN in the Home Office, said the latest plan includes contingency funding to pay for Airwave for a year beyond December 2022. The Home Office hopes to know more about the transition—currently set at 27 months, although some public-safety officials believe it will take four years—from Airwave to ESN after conducting two sets of ESN push-to-talk tests that are scheduled to begin in July and late this year, respectively.
“The 27 months is to what we call the national shutdown [of Airwave] at the end of 2022, but it’s really a ‘not-before’ date,” Webb said during a hearing before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the UK Parliament. “The actual 9.3 billion [pound] figure in the business case here includes a contingency and is really premised around an end of 2023—it assumes that it will probably take a year longer. That’s our current assumption. We will have a better sense, once we’ve worked with the users, how realistic that is.”
Sir Philip Rutnam was named permanent secretary for the Home Office in April 2017, shortly after the Home Office was granted a nine-month timeline extension. Rutnam said he quickly realized that the ESN initiative was under “strain” soon after his appointment and that further delays were possible.
“The thing that that really sounded a warning to me was that we had just added nine months into the program, and now the most senior people in the program were saying, ‘That might not be enough,’” Rutnam said during the PAC hearing. “That was a real concern to me … The thing that concerned me was that we had bad news coming so quickly [after being granted] an additional nine months.”
Rutnam also noted that the contractual structure of the ESN is “unusual.” UK cellular carrier EE is contracted to provide the network infrastructure for the ESN, while Motorola Solutions is responsible for delivering push-to-talk and other software solutions for the UK’s public-safety LTE system.
“To go back to pre-2015, when the procurements were put in place, this was a highly disaggregated approach to the delivery of this program which leaves the department—which was always going to have an important role—in an even more important role as systems integrator and responsible for managing a multiplicity of suppliers,” Rutnam said. “So, there is no prime contractor, in the same way as you might be familiar with in other contexts.”
Webb explained that talk of a delay greater than nine months came after a discouraging software test between EE and Motorola Solutions in spring 2017 “revealed a whole set of problems in the program.” One major issue was that EE was testing network infrastructure based on LTE Release 12, and the Motorola WAVE push-to-talk product was based on LTE Release 10.
PAC Chairwoman Meg Hillier noted that even people who are not technical experts understand that systems operating on different technology releases could have compatibility issues and questioned why the discrepancy between the network and software releases “didn’t raise a bigger alarm bell” for those heading the ESN project.
“I don’t think we’d realized how major an impact that was going to have,” Webb said. “We knew that Motorola had used this (3GPP) Release 10 … Until we actually saw this live in testing, it wasn’t really clear how big the problem was. I completely accept that.
“I think we knew early on that there was a distinction between the Release 10 and the Release 12. What we didn’t understand was how fundamental that was going to be in making this system work over a commercial—as opposed to a private—4G network and just how many problems it would cause later.”
This episode caused relationships among those involved in the ESN project to “become very fractured,” and officials for both the Home Office and Motorola Solutions “assumed the worst of each other” at the time, according to Webb. In fact, Webb acknowledged that he was questioning the technical viability of the ESN when UK officials visited Motorola Solutions headquarters in Chicago in the fall of 2017 to discuss the situation.
“That was quite a seminal meeting with the top team in Motorola,” Webb said. “I think it brought home to them the scale of the concern on our side. They were able to dispel some of our concerns. They acknowledged some of the problems with early quality, and the explained what they were doing with their testing organization in the U.S. to improve the quality of the software before it left the U.S.
“We made a lot of progress on what was concerning us at the time about the route to standards, but particularly the security architecture. That remained a considerable concern and the driver behind the shift to Kodiak.”
Indeed, Motorola Solution recently had completed its purchase of Kodiak, the supplier of carrier-integrated push-to-talk solutions to operators such as AT T, Verizon and Sprint in the U.S., as well as others throughout the world. Although the shift to Kodiak added extra delay to the project and caused some completed work to be redone, Webb said he believes using Kodiak technology that already is proven to work on carrier network gives the Home Office “a reasonably high level of confidence” that the ESN is technically viable.
Webb said that initial field testing of the Kodiak push-to-talk solution is scheduled to begin in July, when the ESN Direct application–a push-to-talk offering designed for “less-critical scenarios,” according to a UK government web sited about the ESN–will be used by about 120 immigration and border personnel to assess basic functionality. Late this year, another test of the push-to-talk service will be conducted to assess “interworking with the Airwave solution and the integration with the control rooms,” Webb said.
Released in May, the National Audit Office report expressed caution about the ability for the Kodiak product to meet the complete push-to-talk needs of UK first responders.
“During development of the ESN service, it became clear that Motorola’s Wave 7000 ‘push-to-talk’ product was not meeting the users’ requirements,” the NAO report states. “In 2017, Motorola purchased the Kodiak push-to-talk product, which is a theoretical improvement, because it complies with the international telecommunication standards used by EE. However, the system still requires significant development and testing and will not meet user requirements until 2020, at the earliest.”
The NAO report also states that “Kodiak is not currently used by emergency services but is expected to be adopted by the national FirstNet project for emergency services in the USA,” referencing the FirstNet public-safety LTE system being built by contractor AT T in the U.S.
Kodiak’s cellular push-to-talk product is available to FirstNet customers today and is used by public-safety personnel primarily to augment their land-mobile-radio (LMR) communications, particularly when outside of their jurisdictions. However, most public-safety agencies in the U.S. have no plans to consider replacing their LMR systems until FirstNet makes push-to-talk voice available that at least meets the mission-critical-push-to-talk (MCPTT) standard approved by the 3GPP standards body.
AT T officials have stated that FirstNet subscribers will have a choice of multiple vendors providing “fully 3GPP-compliant MCPTT solutions during the second of 2019.” AT T completed an RFP selection process for MCPTT vendors last year but has not announced any result to date.
3GPP took unprecedented actions in creating the standards for MCPTT—as well as standards for MCData and MCVideo—to serve the needs of global first responders, particularly in LTE Releases 12, 13 and 14. In many key cases, this standards push has been led by UK officials.
“The UK plays an absolutely pivotal role in designing and developing the international 3GPP standards for this service, so they are more suited for our needs,” Rutnam said.
Despite this UK standards focus, the terms “mission-critical push to talk” and “MCPTT” were not mentioned in the NAO report or spoken during the PAC hearing about ESN plans.
The UK government’s ESN web site describes a future product called ESN Prime that will provide a “full suite of public-safety communications services, including critical voice push-to-talk, messaging and video, and is aimed at organizations who are ready to begin the move away from Airwave. ESN Prime is scheduled to be available in October 2020, according to a graph in the NAO report.
A Motorola Solutions official told in April that the latest Kodiak solution complies with “aspects of the MCPTT standard that are currently available to us.” One of the missing MCPTT elements—one that has been a problem through the LTE community—is proximity services (ProSe), the direct-mode communications technology specified by 3GPP to support communications between LTE devices when connectivity to an LTE network is not available.
Samsung has stated that it has developed a ProSe chipset, but it has not released any information to date on the performance of the technology. No other vendor has announced that a ProSe chipset as being available.
Another problem for the Home Office is coverage. To match the coverage provided by Airwave, the Home Office assumed the responsibility of building 292 cell sites to augment the coverage provided by EE’s commercial network build, which is close to meeting the terms of the contract. However, only two of the projected 292 Home Office cell sites have been built to date, according to the NAO report.
Even if the ESN delivers the promised functionality, Home Office officials have stated that the Airwave shutdown will not happen until public-safety agencies accept the ESN service as a suitable replacement—something that all acknowledged as a major challenge, especially because it is more subjective than meeting a technical requirement.
PAC member Lee Rowley asked whether the Home Office had the power to retire the Airwave system, even if some first responders don’t support the move. Rutnam said the Home Office plans to work with public-safety agencies, if a dispute arises about the ESN’s.
“The reality is that what will happen is more discussion and more effort to reach a resolution,” Rutnam said. “That is the reality. We’re not going to be in the business of threatening to deprive emergency services of their vital communication.
“This is the nature of the relationship—whether we like it or not—between the Home Office and the emergency services. We’re both dependent on each other, … which is why building user confidence is so fundamental.”
Rowley expressed support for the Home Office goal of public-safety unanimity but said he is concerned about having to fund additional Airwave contract extensions, even if the ESN is a technically viable alternative.
“The statements you’re giving me scare me quite a lot,” Rowley said. “All of those things, taken together, mean that—in an extreme scenario—you’ll never sign this [Airwave system] off. So, what’s the point in doing it? You will be running Airwave forever—out of those 470 organizations, at least one will say ‘No.’
“You can’t reconcile all of these statements. I don’t mind which one you change, but you can’t reconcile them. And we will be here in two years’ time, saying, ‘There’s a billion-and-a-half-pound cost here,’ if we’re not careful … You may be doing this, but you need to give me more confidence that you’re doing it. Because I see a brick wall, as it’s being explained today.”
Rutnam acknowledged Rowley’s concerns but reiterated that the Home Office will take the steps necessary to ensure that UK public-safety agencies have confidence in the ESN.
“I understand the risk that you’re talking about, but I’m trying very hard—we’re trying very hard—to avoid this crystallizing into a standoff,” Rutnam said. “That would be bad, I think, for all of the parties.”
Other ESN issues that still need to be addressed include an air-to-ground solution, in-vehicle devices and integration with control rooms (the UK equivalent of 911 centers in the U.S.), according to the NAO report.
“The Home Office will not be able to switch Airwave off until all control rooms are upgraded, which depends upon work done by the emergency services, their control room suppliers and suppliers of associated systems, but it has no way to ensure this work aligns with ESN plans,” the NAO report states. “Any changes will be managed and contracted by the emergency services, under various funding arrangements.”
No matter what the reasons, it is very likely that the UK government will need to pay Motorola Solutions to continue Airwave service beyond the current target date at the end of 2022. The fact that Motorola Solutions is the vendor designated to deliver the ESN push-to-talk software to replace Airwave—a TETRA service that delivers Motorola Solutions much more in annual revenue than ESN would provide—has been a point of concern for many UK officials since Motorola Solutions purchased Airwave shortly after winning the ESN software contract.
“The Home Office will need to manage carefully the commercial consequences of renewing Airwave before changes to the Motorola contract have been agreed,” according to the NAO report, which was released shortly before the contract extending Airwave through December 2022 was signed. “Motorola will benefit from the successful development of ESN, but it also receives large revenues from the continued use of Airwave.
“Following its acquisitions of Airwave and Kodiak, Motorola owns several key components of the current and future emergency services communications systems, putting it at an advantage over any competitors when the ESN contract is renewed in 2024. Motorola is also a control-room vendor, potential supplier of handsets and vehicle devices and in charge of accrediting devices and control rooms for ESN.”
Although there is a budgetary contingency to extend Airwave an extra year, the terms of such an extension remain subject to a negotiation, particularly if Motorola Solution must invest money to upgrade the TETRA system to ensure that it meets the needs of emergency services in the UK, according to Joanna Davinson, the chief digital, data and technology for the Home Office.
“It will be a negotiation, but we will have to agree with Motorola on the scope that needs to be extended,” Davinson said during the PAC hearing. “Is it everything, or is it part of the solution? Clearly, if we’ve already rolled out [ESN] in parts of the country, we wouldn’t want to extend the entire network.
“We would have to agree on a price, and that would depend on whether there does need to be further upgrades or enhancements of the Airwave system for tech refresh. And some of that will depend on if we are extending for 6, 9 or 12 months. It will be a very different conversation, if we have to extend for further than that.”
But PAC member Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown said he does not like the government’s negotiation position, if any kind of Airwave extension deal is necessary. Currently, the cost of extending Airwave costs the UK government about 620 million pounds each year, he said.
“It does seem to me that, if you have any substantial amount of Airwave usage left [when an extension deal is needed for service beyond 2022], Motorola will inevitably say to you, ‘I’m sorry, we’ve got to invest a lot of money to do this. We’re putting the price up considerably,’” Clifton-Brown said during the PAC hearing. “You’ve lost your leverage, haven’t you really?”
Davinson said, “We will have a negotiation.”
Clifton-Brown replied, “You will have a negotiation, but you’ve lost the leverage.”
Despite the technical and financial challenges associated with establishing the ESN, Webb said he believes completing the UK’s nationwide public-safety LTE network remains the best available option.
“If you believe this is technically possible at all, there’s almost no circumstances where it would make sense to remain with Airwave,” Webb said. “Even if you assume it would be possible to keep TETRA going well into the 2030s—which I don’t think anybody really believes—the big cost drivers don’t change, whether you transition to an ESN now or in five or in ten years.”
Rutnam echoed this sentiment.
“We continue to anticipate very large financial savings associated with being able to switch off Airwave and relying on the new network—it will be on the order of halving [the annual costs],” Rutnam said. “We think the business case continues to be resilient in that scenario.
“There are a couple of other points I’d add. The first is that, from a practical perspective, I think if we lose courage now and stop this process, … then I would predict that—at some point, in a smallish number of years—the government of the day would come back to the question of how to replace Airwave. A second point that is linked … is that, as the program has gone on, more and more countries have started to do the same things—France, Finland, the U.S., Denmark.”
ESN Programme Director Bryan Clark is scheduled to deliver an update about the public-safety LTE system as one of the featured morning keynotes at the Mission Critical Technologies (MCT) event in London on June 12. |
