NSW ambulance upgrades satellite comms

The Ambulance Service of New South Wales has dumped its failing, ten-year-old fleet of satellite phones in a $372,000 upgrade.
This month, the organisation purchased 178 Iridium 9555 satellite phones from mobile telco Pivotel to replace an estimated 130 legacy devices from the same provider.
 
According to NSW Ambulance Operations Officer Ian Cunningham, workers had been struggling with patchy voice coverage on Pivotel's aging Globalstar satellite network for more than a year.
 
Both Globalstar and Iridium networks were expected to provide 100 % coverage of Australian terrain, but as the Globalstar constellation aged, some satellites could no longer amplify voice signals.
 


 
When the State Government finally provided funds for a phone upgrade, NSW Ambulance considered Pivotel's Iridium 9555 devices alongside Optus Thuraya Satellite Phones. Workers found the Iridium devices to be most reliable, and Pivotel sweetened the deal with a handset trade-in offer. Pivotel counts among its customers State Government emergency services and mining companies such as BHP and Rio Tinto.
 
Globalstar and Iridium networks each had their strengths, Bolger said, with the latter constellation providing superior voice communications, and Globalstar providing better support for data. Eight Globalstar satellites have already been replaced, with the remaining 24 to follow later this year, Bolger said.
 
He expected the refreshed network to provide a stronger, high-speed service for voice and data communications next year.
 
Meanwhile, it would be another four to five years before NSW Ambulance would require another network upgrade, Bolger said.
 
Most Iridium 9555 devices have now been rolled out to ambulance workers, who responded positively to the change.