“Airwave was founded to improve policing and public safety outcomes; its heritage has always been the improvement of public safety front-line services. We would therefore welcome the opportunity to use this experience to benefit Queensland.”
The Broadcast Australia Infrastructure Group (BAI) is a communications infrastructure group with operations spanning North America, Europe and Asia Pacific, specialising in complex telecommunications solutions. The BAI Group is majority owned by the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB). As of June 30, 2012, the CPP Fund had $C165.8 Billion under management.
The BAI Group, which includes Airwave Solutions Australia, constructs and manages state wide mission critical communication networks for both the public and private sector. The BAI Group is responsible for a number of federal and state government network contracts in Australia today.
The opportunity to deliver an enhanced digital radio voice and narrowband data communications network for Queensland’s public safety agencies would leverage the expertise of the BAI consortium gained through its experience both domestically and internationally:
· In Queensland, BAI has demonstrated capability in the rollout of a trunked, encrypted P25 Network for Ergon Energy,
· In the UK, Airwave Solutions has first-hand insight in to the preparation required for an event the scale of a G20 Summit and Commonwealth Games, given their role as provider of communications for the G8 Summit and to LOCOG for the London 2012 Olympics. Significantly, the opening ceremony for the Olympics on July 27 saw over 2.7 million calls on the network from the police alone, a record for a single day.
· Leighton Telecommunications has extensive track record at managing mission critical assets and providing enhanced communications solutions for governments and emergency services including owning and operating a 16,700 km Australia –wide backhaul fibre transmission network.
“The Broadcast Australia Infrastructure Group, together with Airwave Solutions, Leighton Telecommunications and its partners, can deliver a complete digital network solution that is fully interoperable and meets both the current and future requirements of public safety communications in Queensland,” said Mr Keys.
“If successful in this process, we would work to provide a cost-effective, long term solution to the Queensland Government and assist them in developing a solid employment position for Queenslanders by inviting a sizeable local workforce to join us in delivering this solution.”
