This follows a recent contract signing involving three competing consortia, alongside lead procurer Astrid SA. The consortia are led by Airbus, Frequentis and Leonardo, with a total of 32 European companies also participating in the initiative to provide borderless emergency services broadband across the continent.
According to a statement, each consortium has been awarded around €1.4 million to take the project forward, with initial demonstrations expected in November of this year. The final BroadWay prototypes are expected to be tested and evaluated in Spring of 2021.
Speaking of the project, a spokesperson said: “The BroadWay prototypes and pilots will give a real view on the technical possibility to realise operational mobility. [They will also indicate] the capability for public safety responders to access and share information wherever they are and wherever they need to, with assured confidence in the security, availability and continuity of services.”
Following the conclusion of the second phase, a subsequent competition will be held with a further €1.5 million being awarded to each of the two remaining consortia. The third and final phase of the project will be a pilot, beginning Spring 2022.
BroadWay is coordinated by Public Safety Communication Europe Forum. Consortium stakeholders include PrioCom, Telefonica, Eutelsat, Proximus, T-Mobile, Telespazio and Vodaphone.
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