The project will implement a nationwide mission critical mobile broadband service for the Finnish public safety and other authorities during the early 2020s.
The second phase will specify, procure and roll out Virve 2.0’s mission-critical services. Erillisverkot expects the related procurement activities to start during the first half of 2020. The deadline for responses (which should be sent via email to: virve@erillisverkot.fi) is 17th January 2020.
Two major procurements for Virve 2.0 are already on-going – one for the core network and one for the radio access service.
The project is inviting answers and comments from all parties that working on public safety broadband communication solutions and applications. It is especially interested in hearing from companies specialising on 3GPP-based mission-critical services and related equipment.
The question cover a wide range of topics, including whether 3GPP Release 15 would be a good baseline for rolling out mission-critical services in 2021-2022 (and if not, which 3GPP Release would), interoperability, and the testing of non-mission-critical apps and services.
The formal Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) notice can be viewed here, while the Virve 2.0 3GPP MCX RFI document can be seen here.
Ari Toivonen, development manager at Erillisverkot, who is leading the work on the RFI, says that feedback on it would be gratefully received, as this would be of benefit both to the project organisers and similar projects in other countries.
