Malta prepares to implement 112

In April 2006, Mason Communications (Mason) won a €200,000 emergency services contract in Malta for a consultancy contract funded by the European Union. Mason was selected on the grounds of technical expertise, our methodology, and the team of key experts offered.

Mason’s first responsibility under the contract is to identify the communications requirements of Malta’s Civil Protection Department (fire service), Police and Armed Forces, as well as those of the Health Services in Malta and Gozo – all in the context of better provisioning of the new, pan-European, emergency phone number, 112.

In the past, each of the services had a different emergency number, but now they need to work more closely with the introduction of 112. To do this, they need an improved radio network; the aim is that all emergency service operators in the field will have standard radio equipment.

Through structured questionnaires, Mason staff, led by project manager David Taylor, identified what communications equipment is in use by field workers in all the services.

Having established what is being used in the field, some of which is over 18 years old, the next step was to discover what the people who will be using the new radio terminals needed to do their jobs. To find out, Mason again used structured questionnaires to the primary emergency services, and put their findings into a framework to be analysed and assimilated.

This was followed up by a series of workshops for people to tell Mason what they want, and discuss issues face-to-face. Mr Taylor says, “We have had a series of fruitful and positive workshops, including one with the health service on Malta that ran for five hours, while medical consultants and doctors explained what they wanted.”

The final aim of the project is to be able to recommend a way forward and issue an invitation to tender (ITT) for the communications network and terminals. At present, it is not clear whether the Maltese authorities will adopt a model similar to that of the Isle of Man, part of the British Isles, which opted to buy its own equipment and deploy it, or whether a service provision model will be more appropriate.

Whatever the outcome, the Mason methodology (see graphic) is tried and tested, having been used by Mason for customers in Austria and Greece, as well as in the Isle of Man and for Airwave in Great Britain.

About Mason

Mason is a leading independent consultancy operating internationally and specialising in telecoms and networked IT consulting services. Our talented and experienced people ensure that clients gain maximum benefits from their technology investments.

Mason has been successfully serving both the private and public sectors for over 10 years, delivering successes across hundreds of diverse and complex projects worldwide. We fully appreciate our clients' objectives and we work in partnership to provide informed and impartial advice and support at all levels.

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