TETRA  |  2018-12-04

Nødnett and Virve TETRA Networks Officially Connected

Source: The Critical Communications Review | Gert Jan Wolf editor

Norwegian DSB now facilitates mission-critical communication in the event of accidents, crises and other events where resources from neighboring countries are needed.

On November 22, 2018, the Norwegian and Finnish Tetra network owners (DSB and Erillisverkot) officially launched the service that allows Norwegian and Finnish public safety users to communicate across the border and in the neighboring country.

This means that Norwegian resources are now able to communicate with Finnish resources and that they can continue to use their Tetra radios even when they are in Finland. Likewise, Finnish resources can use the Nødnett Tetra network in Norway. The service is available throughout Norway and throughout Finland.

For almost two years, DSB and Erillisverkot and representatives of Finnish and Norwegian emergency services, customs authorities and JRCCs have planned for mission-critical communication across the two countries. There has been extensive development and testing between the Tetra networks, radio terminal migration, cross-border talk groups and procedures of multiagency cooperation.

There are now established a set of Finnish-Norwegian talk groups, called FINO talk groups, which are available to users in both countries.
The service with Finland complements the cooperation DSB already has with MSB in Sweden. Public safety users can, with these services, bring their radio terminals to assignments in both neighboring countries and communicate with their partners. At the same time, Swedish and Finnish users can use Nødnett when they have assignments anywhere in Norway.

Picture: Courtesy of Nødnett