Spain expands TETRA network

The Biscay Transport Consortium in Spain, which includes Bilbao Metro as service operator, Euskal Trenbide Sarea as transport infrastructure management company and EuskoTren as multiline service operator, has agreed with Itelazpi, the Basque government TETRA communications service provider, to use its Teltronic TETRA infrastructure, supplied by a consortium made up of Teltronic and Grupo Cys.

The agreement will allow Bilbao Metro to change its existing TETRA system for Teltronics latest generation TETRA (NEBULA) infrastructure, currently operated by Itelazpi, with coverage across the whole of the Basque Country.

This will be extended further to include the railway's underground sections.

This service will allow Bilbao Metro to reap the benefits of a latest generation TETRA (NEBULA) communications infrastructure, capable of providing advanced data applications.

The goal of Itelazpi's TETRA network is to provide services to Basque institutions. The network infrastructure is shared among a wide range of public services so that these can benefit from wide-area network coverage.

At present the Teltronic infrastructure is made up of 137 base stations deployed across the whole of Basque country and it will reach 161 base stations by the end of 2011, including the rollout to cover a number of underground railway sections.

As well as offering voice, this system also enables data applications, such as automatic vehicle and person location, telemetry and remote resources management, plus database access from the radio terminal.