SIRESP Reinforces National Mission-Critical Network Strategy
Portugal's public safety network operator outlines €37.2 million investment programme and technological roadmap toward LTE/5G mission-critical communications.
SIRESP, S.A. took part today in the CNN Portugal Summit "Health Resilience in the Face of Complex Emergencies," held at the Egas Moniz School of Health & Science Auditorium in Portugal. The Chairman of the Board of Directors, Major General Paulo Viegas Nunes, delivered the keynote address "The Technologies and Resilience of the Emergency System. SIRESP Network: An Experience, a Vision," setting out the operator's transformation from a contract management entity into a fully-fledged mission-critical network operator.
During his address, Major General Viegas Nunes detailed the current scale and performance of the SIRESP network, which now provides national coverage of 99.5%, including Portugal's Autonomous Regions. The network comprises 548 base stations, serves 234 user entities, and has capacity for 53,000 users, underscoring its role as the backbone of the country's emergency and public safety communications infrastructure.
A central announcement of the keynote was the 2026-2027 Investment Programme, valued at €37.2 million, which will strengthen territorial capillarity, energy autonomy, mobile recovery infrastructure, and the overall structural resilience of the network.
The Chairman also cited World Youth Day (WYD) 2023, the largest event ever organised in Portugal, as an internationally recognised demonstration of SIRESP's operational capability. The event saw the network handle more than 7.7 million calls across 27,778 terminals, while maintaining network availability of 99.89%.
Looking ahead, Major General Viegas Nunes outlined SIRESP's technological transition toward mission-critical communications over LTE and 5G, alongside a growing focus on cyber-resilience and the "network of networks" concept. He emphasised that these developments are central to ensuring national sovereignty and reinforcing SIRESP's critical role in the resilience and recovery capacity of the Portuguese State.
Concluding the keynote, Major General Viegas Nunes stated that resilience is built through anticipation, investment, and inter-agency cooperation, describing this as SIRESP's ongoing commitment to Portugal.
SIRESP extended its thanks to CNN Portugal and the Egas Moniz School of Health & Science for organising the event and providing a platform for strategic reflection on health and emergency resilience.
