Northern Territory energy group, Power and Water Corporation, is upgrading its mobile workforce communications system with a solution designed and supplied by Tait Communications.
The deal with Tait will see Power and Water upgrading its four aging analogue mobile radio networks it has been using to connect its field teams in the main population centres and along some of the interconnecting transport routes.
A government-owned business which supplies and operates the Northern Territory’s high-voltage electricity transmission backbone and water and sewerage networks, Power and Water is a major employer in the region, with a mobile workforce servicing a vast area of around 1.3 million square kilometres.
Tait says that while needed to ensure reliable communications, efficient service and worker safety, parts of the analogue system were nearing the end of their effective lives.
{loadposition peter}Power and Water is now upgrading to a digital mobile radio solution from Tait.
Installation is expected to begin early in the first quarter of this year, with staged handovers of coverage areas throughout 2017 and completion in early 2018.
The Tait solution, which includes a service package provided by Tait’s Darwin based solution partner I.T.S. Communications, is based on a mobile radio standard called DMR Tier3.
According to Tait, Power and Water’s evaluation concluded that the Tait solution provided the “best whole-of-life value for money and lowest risk”.
The DMR Tier 3 trunked network solution and services being provided to Power and Water includes:
• 20 transmission tower sites
• 300 mobile (vehicle) digital radios (TM9300)
• 50 portable digital radios (TP9300)
• Six dispatch consoles (Omnitronics’ DX Altus)
• Tait’s Enable Network Monitoring and Management
• Over-the-air programming (OTAP)
• Tait’s Service Advantage package