Nordics
Northern Powerhouse
Recent projects in the Nordic region include the drive for cross-border
interoperability with TETRA, ongoing migrations to 4G LTE and more use of
hybrid roaming solutions. Barry Mansfield takes a look at the progress so far
10
www.criticalcomms.com March 2020
The Nordic countries have a long-time attachment
to Terrestrial Trunked Radio (TETRA), with
Finland’s plans for its first network dating all the
way back to the early 1990s due to the high cost
and weak security of its analogue predecessor.
Today the standard is used across the region, not just in
public safety but also in mining, oil and gas, utilities and the
transport sector. Oslo and Helsinki metros embraced TETRA
(in the latter case replacing simple use of mobile phones) to
connect control rooms with drivers, rescue and maintenance
staff. Then came Helsinki’s city tram network.
Several well-known large organisations are happy with
TETRA and continue to back it – yet they are still opting to
upgrade their existing networks. For example, Danish wind
farm operator Ørsted selected Atcom and Celab in August last
year to develop an integrated communications system for its
HR2 site in the North Sea.
The upgrade will bring improved call quality and data
transfer between the site and head office in Esbjerg, while
also enabling a better overview of workers’ precise location,
whether they are active in the port, on board a service vessel
or at a wind turbine.
State-owned oil giant Equinor (formerly Statoil) has been
using an IP-based TETRA system, including a pager service,
on the Johan Sverdrup field. Sogn and Fjordane Energy (SFE)
is utilising Norway’s Nødnett TETRA network using Sepura
TETRA radios supplied by the latter’s Norwegian partner
Wireless Communications AS.
Elsewhere, Wireless Communications has supplied
Sepura STP9000 TETRA terminals to the Norwegian Road
Administration (NRA), which also uses Nødnett. This has
enabled NRA to extend coverage in mountainous parts of
the country, replacing an old analogue system that failed in
tunnels and suffered with limited signal range, leaving many
Photo credit: Johan Eklund
Norway, Sweden,
Finland and
Denmark all use
national TETRA
networks for
their emergency
services
communications,
but each country
is looking at
how it can
transition to 4G
LTE broadband
networks
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