News from Australasian region

New Zealand NGCC update with access to emergency grade Public Safety Network (PSN) Cellular Services

28 November 2025: Hundreds of public safety and emergency management organisations will now have access to the emergency grade Public Safety Network (PSN) Cellular Services following an announcement by government today to increase NGCC’s mandate – NGCC’s Director, Steve Ferguson says it’s good news for the sector with benefits flowing on to community safety and New Zealand’s socio-economic wellbeing.

Read more 

Etherstack awarded UK Home Office MCPTX Contract

11 November 2025, Sydney, Australia: The UK Home Office has awarded a critical communications contract to Etherstack as part of its plan to transition UK public safety communications to its next generation 5G network known as the ESN (Emergency Services Network). Etherstack will deploy its world-leading 3GPP LMR-IWF (InterWorking Function).

Read more

Airbus and Omnitronics to explore collaboration on interoperability solutions

October 2025 – Airbus Public Safety and Security (PSS) and Omnitronics have signed a MoU, at the Comms Connect conference & exhibition in Melbourne, to explore collaboration in the development of interoperable critical communication gateways to facilitate the transition from narrowband to broadband for end users.

Under the MoU, the two parties will investigate the feasibility of developing gateways that facilitate interoperability between Agnet, Airbus’ broadband communication platform, and Airbus TETRA with narrowband critical communication standards such as P25 and Digital Mobile Radios (DMR), and Omnitronics’ radio dispatch management systems, Australian designed, engineered and manufactured products that are exported globally.

It will certainly make migration from P25 or DMR to the Airbus Agnet broadband communication platforms much easier enabling users to communicate between both Narrow Band and Wideband technologies.

Zetron Introduces First End-to-End Critical Communications Platform with Customer Choice, Interoperability and Flexibility

Zetron, a division of Codan Limited and a global leader in integrated mission critical solutions, today announced SALUS, the first end-to-end critical communications technology and services platform that provides complete customer choice, interoperability, standards-based architecture, and flexible deployment options. SALUS brings radio, telephony, MCX and data from across the entire communications continuum together onto a single platform, enabling customers in emergency response and critical services to easily scale capacity, capability and interoperability according to their current and future requirements.

Some market-leading functionality of the SALUS platform is now available, including the newest release of Zetron’s ACOM Command and Control, being utilised by the Public Transport Authority of Western Australia to deliver the first fully MCX-capable railway communications network in Australia, with highly reliable mission critical voice, data and video services.

More information here

Women in Critical Comms Panel at Comms Connect Melbourne

The ACCF welcomes the first-ever "Women in Critical Comms Panel" hosted by Comms Connect Melbourne on Wednesday, October 15, 2025, at the Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre as part of the Comms Connect Melbourne event.

The panel, which will feature prominent female professionals, aims to discuss the evolving pathways, challenges, and opportunities for women entering the traditionally male-dominated public safety and critical communications sectors and ACCF Chair Bidar Homsey will be part of this panel.

Panel Moderator: Natalie Kolodziej, Telstra's Head of Enterprise & Radio Networks

Panellists:

• Louise Hyland, CEO of Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association (AMTA)
• Cheryl Giggetts, P25 Technology Interest Group board member
• Bidar Homsey, Chair of the Australasian Critical Communications Forum (ACCF), chapter of TCCA
• Rania Wannous, Executive Director of Emergency Management at the NSW Telco Authority
• Genie Tan, COO of Connectivity Innovation Network

Topic: The session will explore the increasing presence of women in the critical communications industry and provide insights into the career paths, hurdles, and potential advancements within these vital sectors.

The Comms Connect Melbourne conference will also feature Prospecta Utilities Executive Director Carly Irving-Dolan; NSW Telco General Manager Kylie De Courteney; and Sara Olsson, Project Manager at MSB (Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency).

View the article here.

Australasian Critical Communications Forum (ACCF) member organisations highly commended and winning awards at International Communications Awards (ICCA) during the Brussels CCW2025

• The winner of Best use of critical communications in utilities: Vertel with Icon Water TMR Replacement.
• The winner of Best MCX product or solution of the year: Frequentis AG with MissionX Android SDK, first MCS client platform, certified by GCF
• Highly Commended for Best TETRA product or solution of the year: Airbus Defence and Space with Taira - Secured Virtual Core for TETRA and hybrid TETRA
• The winner of Best TETRA product or solution of the year: Sepura Limited with Sepura SC28 Module
• The Phil Kidner Award for an Individual Outstanding Contribution to critical communications went to Mark Wealleans, Motorola Solutions
• The winner of TCCA young engineer of the year went to Adam Howe of Sepura Limited

Tait Communications highly commended for its Zinkgruvan Mining AB project at The International Critical Communications Awards (ICCA) in Brussels during CCW2025.

During Critical Communications World 2025 in Brussels, the ICCA judges highly commended Tait Communications for its “Best use of critical communications in industrial, manufacturing, mining resources, oil & gas exploration” its Swedish Zinkgruvan Mining AB project, a 6 site DMR Tier 3 minesite system for 750 users, interconnected with 4G LTE via Tait PTToX, a real example of  Interconnecting a PMR Network with a Private LTE Network.

Critical Communications World Winners

Zinkgruvan Mining AB project

NSW Telecom Authority represents Australia at the Critical Communications World 2025 at the Global Village to collaborate with authorities from across the world at the Critical Communications World event 2025 at Brussels

The Global Village at the Critical Communications World event 2025 at Brussels provided for a dedicated space for 25 representatives of national critical communications projects from around the world to come together to discuss ideas, challenges and best practice and Australia was represented by the New South Wales Telecoms Authority (NSWTA).

The Global Village facilitates knowledge sharing and benchmarking, while at the same time, enabling organisations to share the great work that they have carried out so far. With each international authority at different phases in its programme developments, this is the perfect platform for stakeholders to collaborate and move forward together. Uniting governments and operators and fostering a spirit of collaboration across international borders.

Read more

The winner of “Best use of Critical Communications in Utilities” at the International Critical Communications Awards at Brussels CCW2025:  Australian Vertel for its Icon Water TMR Replacement in partnership with Airbus

The Vertel Icon Water project demonstrated clear end user benefits and is the 2025 winner of the prestigious international critical communications solutions award in the utility sector. This award category evaluates use cases from utility customers (electric, water, gas, renewables and energy companies) from around the world that demonstrate good utilisation of critical communications solutions in real world operational systems and Vertel was a clear winner.

Critical Communications World Winners

Vertel is an Australian wholly-owned mission, business, and life-critical information communications and technology company with over 40 years of experience. Vertel takes the best of what is available in the broader telecommunications, ICT and cloud services market and integrates this with its own network infrastructure to deliver the highest-performing services in Australia with a vision to enable smarter, healthier and safer Australian communities through excellence in innovation, delivery and support of our service.

The International Critical Communications Awards (ICCAs), presented by TCCA, are the most prestigious awards in critical communications. Celebrating excellence in the sector, the highly anticipated annual programme recognises the success of products, organisations and individuals that have pushed boundaries and capabilities within the field. Each year the awards are open to any organisation or individual with a compelling story to tell that has a positive impact on the critical communications world.

Global Certification Forum (GCF) mission critical Broadband Mission Critical Services (3GPP MCX ) certification gains momentum.

The Global Certification Forum and TCCA have announced "increasing industry support" for the GCF Certification Programme for Broadband Mission Critical Services that will ultimately result in conformance and interoperability testing covered in GCF MCX product certification as Belgian operator ASTRID has recently joined the GCF, alongside Erillisverkot from Finland. This follows Sweden’s Myndigheten för Samhällsskydd och Beredskap (MSB) becoming the first public safety organisation to join as mission critical communications operators. Other European organisations are also in the process of joining the initiative. Keysight Technologies announced being first in the market to validate at GCF 3GPP EUTRA mission critical test cases, using ETSI MCX EUTRA TTCN. These achievements facilitate conformance testing being adopted to guarantee standards compliance and ensure high reliability, performance and interworking, mandated by mission-critical communications. “The GCF certification programme assures device-network and client-server compliance to 3GPP standards for mission critical devices and services, as well as contributing to reducing testing cost and accelerating time-to-market.”

Read more

Aqura Technologies announces partnership with Ipsotek for advanced AI powered video analytics solutions in Australia

There’s no secret that AI has immense transformational abilities, so we are proud to announce our partnership with Ipsotek, an Eviden business, a global leader in Computer Vision and pioneer in the field of artificial intelligence powered video analytics solutions for mission critical applications.

Customers will be able to select from to enable real-time alerts, or track trends via custom dashboard to support training or accelerate process improvements. This is a fantastic addition for Aqura customers to extract more value from already in place network enabled video infrastructure to reduce risk, enhance worker safety and drive productivity.

We’re thrilled to offer this new capability which is leveraged globally by leading enterprise and public sector organisations.

Learn more

Velocity - Transforming mining with intelligent communications 

With its heritage in mobile radio and extensive experience in the Australian mining sector Simoco is rising to the challenge of delivering the benefits of digital transformation in mining. We take a look at how Simoco’s Velocity platform can harness the safety and efficiency benefits of Mining 4.0.

Read more 

ARCIA_3GPP Mission Critical Broadband Services (MCX)

Presentation at ARCIA event in Perth, 2nd April, by Faz Moradi, director of the Australasian Critical Communications Forum, and Director, Client Solutions and Strategic Partnerships, Motorola Solutions Australia and New Zealand

Faz Moradi, director of the Australasian Critical Communications Forum, and Director, Client Solutions and Strategic Partnerships, Motorola Solutions Australia and New Zealand presented at the ARCIA conference at Perth on 2nd of April covering "Pathways to Deploy 3GPP Mission Critical Broadband Services (MCX), with various case studies.  For more information visit ARCIA_3GPP Mission Critical Broadband Services (MCX)

Victorian Government Extends Investment in Resilient Land Mobile Radio Communications with Motorola Solutions

MELBOURNE, Australia – February 14, 2025 — The Victorian government has signed a 10-year, AUD $500 million (USD ~$330 million) contract with Motorola Solutions to maintain and enhance the Metropolitan Mobile Radio network (MMR) relied upon by the state’s emergency services – the contract with the Department of Justice and Community Safety will extend MMR’s operation until 2035, providing secure and trusted radio communications for the state’s public safety agencies, including Victoria Police, Ambulance Victoria.

Read more

Telstra, Australia’s leading telecommunications company, joins TCCA

Telstra, Australia’s leading telecommunications company, has become the latest organisation to join TCCA, the global member-led organisation for all stakeholders in the critical communications ecosystem.

Specifically for mission critical communications, Telstra supports public safety and emergency services, mining, oil and gas operations, transportation and logistics. Telstra’s Land Mobile Radio network is essential in many government radio networks, and Telstra’s private mobile broadband networks are deployed extensively across logistics, fleet management, supply chain infrastructure and in the public sector. Satellite connectivity is delivered through partnerships with multiple satellite providers.

Read more

Tait Communications buys m-View, an Australia-based critical-video company

New Zealand-based Tait Communications announces its acquisition of m-View, with a portfolio of video offerings for critical-communications users, including body-worn cameras, in-car video technology and a digital-evidence management platform.

Read more

Engineering Education Australia (EEA) in partnership with Wray Castle are organising a Live Webinar “Understanding Private Broadband Networks” on 25th February 2025

Stay ahead of the digital transformation curve by learning why and how Private broadband networks are rapidly evolving  globally and being employed. Engineering Education Australia (EEA) in partnership with Wray Castle are organising a Live Webinar, on 25 Feb, 2025, 5–6pm AEDT, and endorsed by the Australasian Critical Communications Forum (ACCF), chapter of TCCA.

Private networks are also becoming particularly important in industry, where digital transformation is increasing the demand for smart factories, industrial robotics, AI, IoT, and autonomous vehicles. It will also get you up-to-speed on the key underlying technologies, such as 4G, 5G, and Wi-Fi.

Register here:

https://eea.org.au/courses/understanding-private-broadband-networks

or https://wraycastle.com/blogs/webinar/understanding-private-broadband-networks

Registrations close three business days before the event.

About Engineering Education Australia (EEA) 

EEA is at the forefront of professional development for engineers. Working in collaboration with Engineers Australia, as well as leading experts in education and business, we help our clients maintain their professional standards and remain competitive throughout their careers. As Engineers Australia’s training provider, we are deeply embedded in the world of engineering. We keep a constant watch on industry trends and emerging technologies, and we respond to these, ensuring all our training courses, workshops and programs are designed around today’s engineers.

About Wray Castle                                                           

Wray Castle, a preferred training provider and valuable member of TCCA https://tcca.info/about-tcca/tcca-resources/training/. Wray Castle empowers the telecoms world by developing the specialist knowledge organisations need to build, optimise and operate the cutting-edge communications networks of today and tomorrow. Trusted by the industry since 1958, our telecoms training solutions helped upskill over 300,000 professionals from mobile and fixed operators, vendors, regulators, consultants, rail operators, energy suppliers and government organisations worldwide.