NEC Australia gets a piece of the $63 million NSW Telco Authority project

NEC Australia has been awarded a contract by NSW Telco Authority as part of the Critical Communications Enhancement Program (CCEP).

The CCEP was created to deliver better two-way radio communication for NSW emergency and essential services.

NEC is one of a number of preferred suppliers to carry out the work under the ITS 2573 Operational Telecommunications Equipment, Infrastructure and Services Prequalification Scheme (ITS scheme).

As part of the three-year contract, NEC will deliver wireless backhaul technology, professional services, network management systems and ongoing support. This includes 24-hour help-desk support and logistics services from NEC's local technical service centres.

The NSW government's 2016/17 budget allocated $63 million to fund the first year of the pilot project in the north west of the state. The pilot is set to increase shared network coverage in the region by 3314 square kilometres and increase each agency’s coverage by consolidating individual agency networks.

There are 72 existing sites which will be reorganised into 25 under the shared network using NEC's Ipasolink VRultra- compact microwave communications system and network management system.

The NSW Rural Fire Service, State Emergency Service, Fire and Rescue and other government agencies have individual radio networks in the pilot area, though none of them currently cover the entire area.

NEC Australia director of sales and solutions Andy Hurt said: "The agreement with the NSW Telco Authority under the ITS 2573 scheme is another example of NEC’s leadership and expertise to provide mission critical wireless solutions, that will enable the NSW government to build a secure and resilient critical communication infrastructure for incident first responders."

The pilot project will also be used to test and refine the delivery strategy for the broader a program.