Friday fragments - critical comms snippets for 22 May 2015

A round-up of the week's critical communications and public safety radio news for Friday, 22 May 2015.

Firelink extends Airwave contract. All fire and rescue services in England, Wales and Scotland will continue to use Airwave’s Firelink service until at least December 2019. The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) has approved a ‘major extension’ of the Firelink Project Agreement - originally signed in 2006 - for a further 36 months. There is a further option to extend for an additional 12 months until December 2020.

Norway chooses Motorola Wave technology. The Norwegian Directorate for Emergency Communication (DNK) has chosen WAVE Work Group Communications from Motorola Solutions to deliver enhanced connectivity, interoperability and collaboration for Nødnett, Norway’s Terrestrial Trunked Radio (TETRA) nationwide public safety network. DNK has signed a contract with Motorola Solutions for 1000 licences and has begun testing the technology, which can be accessed by authorised users with internet connectivity anywhere in the world. The pilot project in Norway will run for selected user groups through 2015 to evaluate use case, features, quality and security.

Canada to hold third spectrum auction. Canadian Industry Minister James Moore announced earlier this month that the Government of Canada will auction more wireless spectrum mid-year. The auction, featuring unallocated spectrum licences from the recent 700 MHz and AWS-3 auctions, will be held in August. It will be the third spectrum auction of 2015. Less than one year ago, nearly 90% of spectrum was held by Canada’s largest wireless companies. As a result of the recent AWS-3 spectrum auction and the ongoing 2500 MHz auction, by mid-2015 new wireless companies are expected to hold approximately 25% of the total wireless spectrum available.

Brazilian army wants 700 MHz. The Brazilian army is asking for 2x 10 MHz from the country’s regulator, to capitalise on the fact that telco Oi didn’t take part in a recent 700 MHz auction. This would enable the army to have a national public safety system.

Radio vs smartphones? The Verge has a thought-provoking summary of the public vs private networks debate, with some interesting stats.

Lost and found. An Icom IC-F3G, which was lost in the New Zealand wilderness for two years, has been found and brought back to life after a good battery recharge. The radio worked perfectly and is back in service.

US$1m fine for fake emergency alert. A Nashville, Tennessee, radio station has been fined US$1 million for broadcasting the emergency alert signal during a prank, which was then picked up by other stations and re-broadcast.

LTE underground. Various leaky cable and MIMO configurations have been tested in an underground LTE trial in the city of Hannover, reports the International Rail Journal.