Mining, oil and gas operations. Public safety and emergency services. Transportation and logistics.
Although these industries vary markedly, they share some similar challenges. For mining organisations, connectivity is crucial for staff both above and below ground in order to maintain site safety. The same can be said for oil, gas and infrastructure projects; environmental conditions that are often remote and challenging, with communication vital to operational awareness and safety.
For public safety, responders and emergency services teams need to stay in constant contact so they can protect people and property. And again, in circumstances that are difficult and life-threatening.
Then there is the coordination and management of large fleets within the logistics and transport industry, the imperative being the safety and wellbeing of drivers whilst maintaining an efficient business.
All of these industries need high bandwidth and low latency that can support dynamic communication over wide-ranging distances and often challenging conditions.
Telstra’s sponsorship of Comms Connect 2023 is an opportunity to showcase the latest technology and stories across mission critical communications.
Stories such as:
In July 2023, the Tasmanian Government Radio Network (TasGRN) became ready for operational use. It brings together eight organisations, from Tasmania Police and Tasmania Fire Service to Ambulance Tasmania, Tasmanian SES, Sustainable Timbers Tasmania, Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife, Hydro Tasmania, and TasNetworks, into one unified digital radio network. This consolidated network improves emergency services and government agency communications, helping to provide the highest levels of safety for communities as well as emergency responders, and is now one of the most advanced integrated emergency radio networks across Australia.
Telstra has supplied ARTC with an integrated Telstra mobile broadband communications solution to provide coverage used to manage the movement of trains across the interstate rail network including; Brisbane to Sydney, Sydney to Melbourne, Melbourne to Adelaide, Adelaide to Perth, Sydney to Perth via Broken Hill and the Hunter Valley network. The National Train Communications System (NTCS) provides voice and data capability that replaced eight separate disparate train communications systems with a single integrated communications system across 8,500km of track and over 1000 Telstra sites across our mobile network.
The Telstra contract initially involved the construction of approximately 70 new Next G® mobile broadband sites providing in-fill coverage across the national rail corridor, communications equipment for approximately 700 trains, satellite and land mobile radio backup and management services for the next ten years such as network support, monitoring and reporting for end users to be kept informed. The NTCS solution has since been refreshed to provide 4G/5G connectivity across the rail corridor mentioned above to support the future of rail communication and add additional in-fill coverage and 4G/5G connectivity across the ARTC route between Brisbane and Melbourne.
The NTCS solution provides a highly available and robust solution used by ARTC and its customers across the nation to support future rail enhancements like Automated Train Management System and track side maintenance innovations.
It would also be remiss not to mention Aqura Technologies (a Telstra Purple company) being awarded the ‘Best use of critical communications in mining, oil and gas’ at the International Critical Communications Awards in 2023.
In its 18th year, Comms Connect is Australia’s largest conference dedicated to radio communications and public safety, held at the Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre on 18-19 October 2023.
If you’d like to know more about Telstra’s solutions, please join us at the event, or visit: Telstra Critical Communications
