• Home /
• Statewatch Database /
• European Security Communications Network

European Security Communications Network

01 May 1995

One of the many operational problems that the Schengen countries had to deal with was that the participating countries' police forces use different radio frequencies, and thus could often not communicate with their counterparts while performing cross-border pursuits and covert surveillance missions. The Benelux countries and Germany had to acquire a special radio infrastructure for the border areas which is referred to as the "KTS-net" ("Short Term Schengen" net). However, now preparations are well under way toward a common European standard for all security-related and public order radio traffic, including data communications. The European Standardization Institute, ETSI, has been preparing a second standard in addition to the GSM mobile telephone protocol. This "Tetra 25" standard for professional users comprises a common European digital trunking protocol to be used between 380-400 Mhz. It will include secured mobile speech and data communications as well as "open channel" group traffic (eg: for use during disasters), optional priority calls and a "Direct Mode" in which walkie-talkies can contact each other independent of the infrastructure. The "Tetra 25" is an "open standard", which allows multiple vendors to produce compatible hardware. A number of major companies already have signed a Memorandum of Understanding, committing themselves to support "Tetra 25's" further development and implementation and withholding support for competitive developments. Most EU countries have already expressed their support for "Tetra 25". The UK Home Office is preparing to build a nationwide infrastructure based on "Tetra 25" by 1998, and the Belgian and Dutch governments aim to start implementing it by mid-1997. The Germans however prefer to wait until "Tetra 25" complies with their technical requirements, and the French have decided to make do with the infrastructure supplied by Matra and installed nationwide a number of years ago.