Press News

Budapest, October 27, 2005

A contract was signed between the Government Commissioner for EDR of the Prime Minister’s Office and the T-Mobile Hungary Rt./Magyar Telekom Rt. consortium at the end of the open two-round negotiated public procurement procedure for the construction of a Unified Digital Radio Telecommunications System (EDR).

The new social and environmental challenges that the fast developing and globalizing societies are facing necessitated the coordination and improvement of the communication activities of law enforcement and emergency services throughout the world. Terrorism, organized crime, the rising number of violent acts, law enforcement in war zones, risks of flood, internal water, hurricane, earthquake, avalanche, landslide, volcano eruptions, nuclear disasters, fires, mass disasters and their growing intensity make it imperative for the nations to provide efficient, fast and secure solutions for disaster and emergency situations.

“The Hungarian government ordered through Government Decree No. 1031/2003. (IV. 09.) the construction of a unified digital radio telecommunications system in compliance with the Schengen Treaty requirements and the European Telecommunications Standardization Institute standard to ensure satisfaction of the radio communication needs of the emergency services and government users. The purpose of the closed radio telecommunications system that ensures very high availability is to implement professional connections between various emergency and law enforcement bodies that enable faster, more efficient and secure performance of various actions,” said István Pesti, Government Commissioner for the EDR Project. “Signing the contract today closed a decade’s preparatory work and brought construction of the Unified Digital Radio Telecommunications System within reach. It is a great pleasure for me to sign this contract on behalf of the state,” added Mr. Pesti.

Network in Budapest

According to the contract, by early April 2006 T-Mobile Hungary Rt. and Magyar Telekom Rt. will bring into operation the Budapest network of the EDR system that can be regarded as a trial operation of the national system.

Planned users of EDR in Hungary: Police, Border Guard, Fire Department, Disaster Prevention Service, National Environmental Authority, Nature Preservation and Water Management Authority, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Justice, Prime Minister’s Office, National Security Services, Ministry of Health, National Ambulance Service, Hungarian Army.

Obligations

According to the contract the winning bidders at the public procurement procedure for the construction of EDR, the T-Mobile Hungary Rt./Magyar Telekom Rt. consortium will guarantee provision of the following services:
• construction of the TETRA network in Budapest by April 5, 2006,
• installation of 39 base stations and 2 relay stations in Budapest,
• make available to the users (Police, Disaster Prevention Service, Border Guard, National Environmental Authority, Nature Preservation and Water Management Authority and civil secret services) 14,000 pieces of terminal equipment to be used in the Budapest network through leasing,
• bring into operation the entire national TETRA network by January 31, 2007 (in line with Government Resolution No. 1053/2005) to ensure 94% coverage of the territory of Hungary,
• construct about 200 – 300 base stations throughout Hungary by early 2007,
• at the time of the national bringing into operation the system will be able to manage 28,000 pieces of terminal equipment, but not all this equipment will be provided by the winning bidder,
• 99.9% national availability per year, downtime: 8 hours/year.
Planned annual net service charge: HUF 9,325,000,000.
Contract term: 10 years.

“We are glad that with the use of T-Mobile’s and Magyar Telekom’s experience and the Group’s modern complex telecommunications infrastructure we can bring into operation the new emergency system within a period that is considered very short also by international standard,” emphasized Dr. Zsigmond Bodnár, T-Mobile’s Chief Officer. Dr. Zsigmond Bodnár added: “In not more than 15 months we will make TETRA available throughout Hungary to prove that we are among the best in the world of telecommunications and are capable of outstanding performance.”

Technology

EDR will be constructed with TETRA technology. TETRA stands for Terrestrial Trunked Radio. TETRA is a mobile telecommunications system designed for professional use: a unique combination of group communication services, mobile telephony, message sending and mobile data services available from a single radio unit. TETRA represents a highly developed professional digital radio communication technology both in terms of features and other parameters.
Its strength is that it ensures error-free operation in wide areas, excellent voice quality through filtering out background noise, is always available, guarantees shorter than half-second call setup and operates in certain cases also without network coverage. In addition to one-to-one calls it ensures group calls, circular calls and push and talk calls, as well as data transmission (status messages, GPS positioning data, file and image transmission, database access, IP, WAP). TETRA services are operated through a dispatcher network. In Europe the TETRA system uses the 380 – 400 MHz frequency band.

Security

With the use of the earlier analog system unauthorized persons and criminals could tap and paralyze communications by the emergency and law enforcement bodies – until the introduction of TETRA that, as on of its important functions, ensures encrypted communication unlike the earlier analog, open networks which are now obsolete for more than one reason. The modern digital TETRA system makes illegal use of information and data impossible and ensures perfect operation even in long periods of power failure. The system ensures a high level of security through daily renewal of encryption keys for each handset. The radio service is provided automatically, the user can focus on his own tasks and does not have to worry about setting up the radio communication. Anything can happen at any time – in emergency situations TETRA can save lives and minimize physical damage through efficient rescue work.

Tetra in the world

Currently more than 650 TETRA systems are operational in the world. The largest network projects were carried out in Belgium, Finland, Spain, France, England, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Hong Kong, but these systems are used in Europe also in Austria, Romania, Poland, Italy, Portugal, Greece, Germany and Russia.

In the near future we will provide detailed technical information for the press on the Unified Digital Radio Telecommunications System in the following categories:
• System and national security issues
• EDR in life saving
• EDR in law enforcement
• EDR in fire
• EDR in flood
• EDR in disaster

Background information

The Government Commissioner for EDR appointed with Government Decree No. 98/2005. (V. 26.) is responsible for the construction of the Unified Digital Radio Telecommunications System and for performance, on behalf of the Minister, of the EDR network owner’s tasks defined for the Minister in a dedicated decree. This position is held by István Pesti. The EDR Secretariat is responsible for preparation, implementation and management of the government strategy connected with the EDR and coordination of the execution tasks. The Government Commissioner is responsible for coordination of EDR design, implementation, operation and development, inspection and coordination tasks, and establishment and fostering of national and international professional relations.