Recommendation Date
Recipient Name
Next Generation Critical Communications
Text
On 26 February 2025, the Commission recommended that Next Generation Critical Communications lead the establishment of a common communication platform for emergency services, to support the sharing of inter-agency communications to remove delays and improve the flow of information during an emergency response.
Reply Text
Thank you for your email notifying us of the recommendation that will be published in the Goose Bay i-Catcher inquiry report on 3 April: ‘NGCC lead the establishment of a common communication platform for emergency services to support the sharing of inter-agency communications to remove delays and improve the flow of information during an emergency response’.
NGCC was formed in 2020 to work on behalf of Fire and Emergency NZ, Hato Hone St John, Police and Wellington Free Ambulance to deliver the Public Safety Network - a government investment of $1.4 billion in a common, complementary suite of modern, digital, secure critical communications to increase communications resilience and reliability, and support Agency interoperability. The Public Safety Network is comprised of a new national Land Mobile Radio network, Cellular Roaming and Priority services, and personal alerting.
The new 500 site Land Mobile Radio network is under construction and the emergency services will begin using it from 2027. It will offer common channels (talk groups) for the emergency services to use to better help them work together, especially in large emergencies when real-time coordination and safety are top priorities. We have successfully delivered an initial tranche of Cellular Services which are meeting expectations in terms of broadening cellular coverage for the emergency services and increasing the reliability of access to coverage.
Today, while our priority is to deliver the Public Safety Network solutions for the four Agencies, we are also actively engaging with stakeholders looking at how NGCC might evolve in due course, including to support government priorities regarding strengthening New Zealand’s broader public safety and emergency management communications capability and connectedness. This will consider future users of our current Public Safety Network services and whether and how we might develop further technologies.
We will remain in contact with you as we make progress in considering the recommendation.
NGCC was formed in 2020 to work on behalf of Fire and Emergency NZ, Hato Hone St John, Police and Wellington Free Ambulance to deliver the Public Safety Network - a government investment of $1.4 billion in a common, complementary suite of modern, digital, secure critical communications to increase communications resilience and reliability, and support Agency interoperability. The Public Safety Network is comprised of a new national Land Mobile Radio network, Cellular Roaming and Priority services, and personal alerting.
The new 500 site Land Mobile Radio network is under construction and the emergency services will begin using it from 2027. It will offer common channels (talk groups) for the emergency services to use to better help them work together, especially in large emergencies when real-time coordination and safety are top priorities. We have successfully delivered an initial tranche of Cellular Services which are meeting expectations in terms of broadening cellular coverage for the emergency services and increasing the reliability of access to coverage.
Today, while our priority is to deliver the Public Safety Network solutions for the four Agencies, we are also actively engaging with stakeholders looking at how NGCC might evolve in due course, including to support government priorities regarding strengthening New Zealand’s broader public safety and emergency management communications capability and connectedness. This will consider future users of our current Public Safety Network services and whether and how we might develop further technologies.
We will remain in contact with you as we make progress in considering the recommendation.
Related Investigation(s)