Press Review

Leading Manufacturer of TETRAPOL installs pilot network

A recent conference held by Matra Nortel Communications and the Academic Association of Telecommunication and Informatics confirmed that the developers of Tetrapol had a lot of pros for this new system. Hubert Azemard, president of Tetrapol Forum (an association of manufacturers) announced that Tetrapol systems require fewer base stations than Tetra systems, therefore Tetrapol systems are considerably cheaper; they cost approx. half of Tetra systems with similar capacity. Developers consider the coding of Tetrapol much safer. Moreover, Tetrapol seems more effective and convenient in rural as well as in urban environments.

The industrial background is also essential, since it supports alternative standards. The EADS Group (European Aeronautic, Defense and Space Company) and the Canadian Nortel Networks own Matra Nortel Communications (MNC) 50-50%. EADS was established through the merger of Dasa, a member of the DaimlerChrysler Group, and Aerospatiale Matra SA in October 1999. This company is the largest aerospace enterprise in Europe and starts its operation in the first half of 2000. The owners assume that the company's 90,000 employees will generate 21 billion Euro sales revenues. Nortel Networks have 75,000 employees and sales revenues of more than 15 billion Euro.

MNC is a leading supplier of Tetrapol systems and also offers a large variety of related technologies. 1998 Sales revenues reached almost 1 billion Euro 39% of which was made outside France.

The open standard is convenient for security services as well as civil organisations, such as e.g. airports, railways, and industrial plants. Tetrapol systems are used in three continents: Asia, the Americas and Europe. The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has acknowledged Tetrapol as a reference system in professional digital radio-communication. The EU also recommends the Tetrapol system (within 380-400 MHz) for the police of the Schengen Treaty countries.

Tetrapol systems with their digital and trunk-based low-frequency standards (12,5 kHz) are easily adaptable and expandable. Mexican police is a good example where this system was installed in all the 32 federal states. The Mexican government assumed that the Tetrapol system could cover the whole country as well as guarantee the flexible co-operation of public and government organisations. Moreover, Tetrapol also meets all security requirements.

Tetrapol systems can be found or are being installed in eighteen countries covering about 600,000 km2. There are about 700,000 clients and investments reach over 3 billion Euro. There are 31 Tetrapol systems operating in the world; the British Defence Ministry, the NATO airbases in Germany, the French Interior and Defence Ministry, the Spanish National and Catalan police as well as the emergency organisations of the Czech Republic, the Slovak Republic and Romania.

A pilot test of Tetrapol starting at the Technical University of Budapest was announced at the conference. Matra launches a pilot project whereby the police will get 100 mobile phones for trial. Consequently, the competition will be open for the two major mobile communication technologies in Hungary.

Extract from Napi Informatika, 28 January, 2000,