Cheaper alternative to Airwave ‘at risk of failing’
A CHEAPER communications system due to replace Airwave in three years is at high risk of failing, according to the government’s spending watchdog.
After analysing the new £1.2bn Emergency Services Network (ESN), the National Audit Office (NAO) warned that it had not been used before and was being pushed through too quickly.
Each ESN device is estimated to cost £500 less than Airwave every year, a significant saving as there are 328,000 Airwave devices currently in use by public organisations. The vast majority – 240,000 – are used by police.
At £1,300 per device, the NAO admitted Airwave is “expensive”. However, it warned that the “need to save money and exit a difficult commercial relationship with Airwave has led the government to try and move to an approach that is not yet used nationwide anywhere in the world and carries significant implementation risk”.
In a report released on 14 September, the NAO also said the new system did not appear to be suitable for counter-terrorism and covert operations, noting that “the communication systems used by our emergency services can literally make the difference between life and death”.
The new network, the plans for which were approved by Theresa May when she was Home Secretary, is due to make savings by using parts of EE’s existing 4G network.
But the report stated: “Only South Korea is currently seeking to deploy a solution similar to ESN nationwide but starts from a better base with significantly greater 4G coverage.”
Officials believe the network coverage will be available by September 2017, with the new network due to be finished in December 2019.
Jack Dromey, Labour’s former shadow policing minister, told The Guardian: “Ministers have been warned repeatedly that they will put at risk the safety and security of the police and the public if they proceed with a second-rate, cheap alternative to Airwave.”