Italy
12
www.criticalcomms.com April 2019
operational advantages which opened
the market to Sepura’s products.
These devices are being used by firstresponders
across the country on the
existing TETRA networks.”
Going into greater detail about
the procurement process, Rocha says
that the Italian Government decides
who is allowed to directly supply
first-responders. “A number of factors
affect this. There are important
security considerations for any
national infrastructure investment,
and similar due diligence is completed
in most public safety national
procurement programmes.
“Once the authorised suppliers have
been confirmed, radio manufacturers
are then invited to bid to promote and
sell their terminals, which themselves
have to be separately authorised
for use on the network. Sepura as a
manufacturer is not involved in the
discussion between integrator and
end-user. This is to maintain security
and integrity in the procurement
process. Clearly, we are able to
have commercial discussions with
the integrator, but never with the
end-user and in this way we are still
able to agree prices, timescales and
additional features.”
Discussing the involvement of
Sepura, or indeed any potential radio
manufacturer, from a technical point
of view, he continues: “Once technical
approval is given for the radios to
operate on the network, our engineers
become involved and provide support.
To me, the network infrastructure is
more important than the terminals,
because that’s obviously the basis for
operation. Again, I wouldn’t have
any direct contact with the users in
relation to any of this unless I was
invited to do so by the customer or
Government itself.
“I absolutely don’t disagree with
the Italian approach – the company
responsible for the infrastructure is
also responsible for the handsets.
Operationally, and particularly from
a national security point of view, it’s
completely understandable.
“Ultimately, selling in Italy is just
the same as anywhere else. They
require good functionality and
performance, as well as interoperability
with the existing network and value
for money. As a manufacturer, we just
have to deliver on what we promised
– if we miss on that, we won’t be a
supplier next time.”
Sepura’s distributor in Italy is
Sintel Italia, with which the company
has recently signed a long-term deal.
According to a statement released at
the time, as part of the deal the latter
company is establishing a service
centre to maintain the devices.
Estimated time of switch-off
It’s clear that the Italian critical comms
landscape is currently relatively settled,
with a nationwide TETRA network
slowly but surely being rolled out for
the benefit of the police in particular.
This is 2019, however, and the spectre
of broadband communications is
never far away for either the civilian
population or those working to keep
the public safe.
Regarding the situation in Italy in
particular, Leonardo’s Veltroni believes
there is an interest in broadband
as a “high-speed vector” used to
“enhance operational capabilities and
complement narrowband networks”.
This is currently manifesting itself
at the local level through the nonmission
critical use of commercial
networks, as well as in the activities
of one of the major umbrella police
organisations mentioned above.
Giving an overview of the current
situation, and possible thinking
heading into the future, Veltroni says:
“At the moment, of the four police
organisations served by TETRA, one
is experimenting with LTE usage in
the form of a specific deployment over
TIM’s (a mobile network operator)
RAN. This is using dedicated
frequencies – 2 x 5MHz at 1800MHz
– made available by the Italian
Ministry of Defence.
“Other agencies are simply
using MNO services as available to
consumers. Bearing that in mind, there
are currently no private broadband
networks in use by mission-critical
operators, and no harmonised
spectrum available for them.”
Turning his attention to the
possibility of an LTE equivalent of
the PIT programme being rolled out
in the coming years, he continues:
“Discussion is ongoing about whether
relying exclusively on public telcos
for public safety broadband is an
option or if a commercial network
would need to be complemented with
dedicated LTE coverage or whether
secure voice and localisation data
(the main mission-critical services)
should instead remain on dedicated
professional networks. At this point
in time, a joint use of TETRA and
Italy’s nationwide
TETRA network
roll-out is for the
benefit of the
police in particular
/www.criticalcomms.com