Coastguard Linked to New UK £175m Fibre Optic and Wireless Network
Technology services company Telent and His Majesty’s (HM) Coastguard have today announced that one of the UK’s largest private broadband networks, which connects 163 remote radio sites across 11,000 miles of coastline, is now operational and helping to ensure an effective emergency response for people passing through the country’s waters.
The £175m network, which is a mix of fibre optic and Microwave (wireless) connectivity (Telent helped to install 1,220km of new infrastructure), is said to stretch as far north as the Shetland Islands (Scotland) and then all the way down to the Isles of Scilly in the far South West of England. The remote radio sites cover the whole of the UK coastline, spanning Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales and England.
The first installations of the new network began in December 2020, after Telent secured a new 10-year contract earlier that year with the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) to design, build and operate the upgraded network for HM Coastguard. This is part of the MCA’s investment in the Radio Network Infrastructure Replacement Programme (RNIR).
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The upgraded full-fibre connectivity is set to deliver improvements, such as greater bandwidth and security, along with enhanced performance and improved reliability. Now that all 163 remote radio sites have been connected, Telent is providing a fully managed service. As part of this, Telent is monitoring and managing the end-to-end performance, undertaking maintenance activities and implementing technical updates.
Telent CEO, Jo Gretton, said:
“The reliable digital connection and the improved resilience provided by the new network will aid HM Coastguard’s life-saving search and rescue operations for years to come with Telent on hand to provide its critical expertise. Having first begun working together in 2010, maintaining radio equipment at the remote radio sites and delivering additional support services, Telent and MCA’s relationship has moved from strength to strength.
The new network provides a firm foundation for the MCA’s potential future and new technology services and projects that only the high performance of a full-fibre network can support.”
HM Coastguard Assistant Chief Coastguard, Matthew Leat, said:
“The national radio network is integral in supporting our mission of preventing the loss of life on the coast and at sea, enhancing our ability to respond to emergencies across the UK.”
Lee-on-the-Solent, Crystal Palace, Humber, Bridlington and Brighton Marina were among the first sites switched to the new search and rescue radio network. The Microwave links are used in locations where it is not possible to build new fibre optic cables.
Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook, BlueSky, Threads.net and Linkedin.
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A marvellous achievement to secure safely at sea. To some of the UK’s most remote locations. Yet it appears to be beyond our 4g providers to do analogous remote service provision at 10 times this figure.
So go figure re. Profit motive where lives are concerned.
I agree, and “conversion to fibre” will mean conversion to 1G EAD (as it is the cheapest). As these links are just carrying <1Mbps would it be possible for the costguard to offer mast space, possibly complete with backhaul to at least one mobile provider?
It would be quite squarely within thier public safety (at sea) remit and may raise enough funds to start paying back some of this £175Mn into their general purpose funds?