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Mother City implements Africa's first public safety digital radio system

In a move set to revolutionise the way in which municipal and public safety services - including fire brigades, traffic officers, ambulances and rescue teams - communicate, the City of Cape Town has implemented South Africa's first public safety digital 2-way radio communication infrastructure.

The system - valued at approximately R55 million - has been installed by Alcom, a subsidiary of the Altech Group, utilising equipment manufactured by Motorola, the world's leading supplier of digital trunked radio systems and handsets. This is the first time that digital technology is being used in South Africa for professional mobile radio users. According to Carl Schneider, manager of electrical engineering, City of Cape Town, the system enables the city's various public safety and municipal agencies to communicate more effectively. "Co-ordinated communication is critical, especially in the event of an emergency situation which requires reaction from more than one public safety agency."

Tetra-based application

The City of Cape Town's digital radio system is based on Tetra (terrestrial trunked radio) technology, which has been widely adopted in Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific region. Due to Tetra, public safety agencies can communicate independently using their individual talk-groups or alternatively intercommunicate with other agencies utilising common talk-groups in the event of an emergency requiring response from more than one public safety agency.

For example, for its regular day-to-day communications, the City Police operates on a private network. However, should there be a car accident on the highway, the City Police can seamlessly activate the greater network to communicate directly with the ambulance services and traffic officers. This ensures that operational communication remains confidential while emergency services maximise resources and efficiencies to vastly boost response times.

Schneider says that the City of Cape Town selected the Tetra system primarily because it is an open standard. "What this means is that it will support equipment from any handset manufacturer. The technology also makes the most efficient use of the valuable, limited and exhaustible frequency spectrum, and proved the most cost-effective solution for metropolitan areas."

It is expected that the City of Cape Town's improved, integrated radio communication system will become a showcase for other public safety agencies across South Africa and the continent. The system is made up of a highly sophisticated range of digital radio equipment that not only offers high quality voice communication, but also enables users to relay vital information directly to those who need it in a variety of formats including data, voice, video and still images. Users are also able to transmit voice and data simultaneously which means that essential data will not be interrupted by voice calls. For example, a traffic police bulletin containing details of a stolen vehicle can be sent in the form of a text message to a traffic officer securing an accident scene without interrupting that officer's voice communication with the emergency medical services using the same handset.

Says Johan van Zyl, managing director of Alcom, "The implementation of the City of Cape Town's system is a significant milestone in radio communications in SA and Africa. As a result of the experience gained through the City of Cape Town's implementation, Motorola and Alcom are ideally placed to roll out a great network to SA's public safety agencies."

Alcom, 011 235 7640

Motorola, 011 800 7800

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