NSW Telco Authority's latest communiqué available

Rod Gilmour, chairperson of the NSW Telco Authority, has released his latest communiqué to update industry on Authority developments.

The communiqué covers steps to develop a whole-of-government strategy for the sector, “intended to set the direction for infrastructure and service provision across agencies, identifying the most appropriate mix of services to deliver effective and efficient radio communication services for the sector”.

“The Telco Authority has recently been reviewing the sector’s capabilities. The review occurred between April 2014 and July 2014 and aims to understand how agencies and state-owned corporations plan, deploy and manage operational telecommunications,” Gilmour writes. “The objective of the review was to document and measure 16 key capabilities for each agency. The findings are being used to create a plan to achieve more effective and efficient management of operational telecommunications and improve services to the public. The Authority will be consulting with agencies on the further development and implementation of the review outcomes.”

The Authority has also been “building relationships with key jurisdictions in order to gain a better idea of international developments”, with the Authority's executive director and staff, plus colleagues from the Office of Finance and Services, recently meeting with the CTO of the UK Government. The CTO provided a briefing on the UK’s transition to an LTE environment for public safety communications.

This was followed by a teleconference with the Emergency Services Mobile Communications division of the UK Government to discuss governance arrangements and decision-making processes in the UK; proposed technology roadmaps being developed in each jurisdiction; and vendor responses to the LTE transition.

The communiqué can be read on the Telco Authority website.