Tait & Zetron complete New Zealand safety radio rollout

Tait Communications and Zetron have completed delivery of shared voice console technology for New Zealand's Public Safety Network land mobile radio system, with the work concluding in the first half of 2026.

The deployment supports emergency services agencies using the new radio network. New Zealand Police and Fire and Emergency New Zealand have already migrated to the system, while Hato Hone St John and Wellington Free Ambulance are due to follow as the broader network rollout continues.

Tait contracted Zetron to supply the voice consoles, which have been integrated into agency communications systems connected to the Public Safety Network's land mobile radio network. SafetyNet, the Crown company overseeing the programme, coordinated the agencies involved and supported the implementation.

The project is part of a broader overhaul of New Zealand's public safety communications infrastructure. The Public Safety Network involves AUD $1.7 billion of investment over 10 years to build and operate networks and services, while rolling out new devices to emergency service staff, stations and vehicles.

Since 2022, Tait has been a central vendor in building the land mobile radio element of the Public Safety Network nationwide. The radio network is based on Project 25 standards, which are widely used for public safety communications.

Agency migration

The voice console deployment is designed to give dispatchers a common platform for communicating with and coordinating frontline responders. Multiple public safety agencies are expected to use the system, with interoperability a core feature of the design.

SafetyNet is delivering the Public Safety Network on behalf of New Zealand Police, Fire and Emergency New Zealand, Wellington Free Ambulance and Hato Hone St John. The land mobile radio network is one of three main parts of the programme, alongside cellular services and the modernisation of personal alerting technology.

The cellular component allows authorised users to roam across Spark and One NZ networks. It also gives emergency service users priority access when either network is congested or degraded.

Tait said its open-standards approach to the radio programme shaped its choice of partner for the console work.

"Tait's open-standards interoperable technology allows our customers to select the best technology partners to best serve their needs," said Yoram Benit, PhD, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Tait Communications.

"Zetron is a member of Tait's Technology Partner Program, and we value Zetron's collaboration to deliver a robust mission-critical radio network to New Zealand's emergency services agencies," Benit said.

Long partnership

Zetron said the New Zealand project builds on a long working relationship between the two companies on large communications networks. It has supplied communications systems for more than 40 years and said its console technology can also support other public safety communications initiatives beyond the radio network.

These include broadband push-to-talk over cellular and 3GPP standards-based mission-critical communications services for voice, video and data. In New Zealand, the immediate use case remains voice communications across the nationwide P25 network.

"Tait and Zetron have a long history of working together to successfully deliver some of the largest and most critical communications networks in the world, and we are honoured to partner with Tait in support of the New Zealand PSN initiative," said Scott French, President and Executive General Manager, Zetron.

"Our shared commitments to high quality, standards-based solutions are aligned to offer customers optimal interoperability, flexibility and choice in meeting their specific requirements at every step of the emergency response continuum," French said.

SafetyNet also said Zetron was closely involved throughout the work.

"They were proactive from the outset, consistently went beyond what was asked of them and worked openly with us and the agencies at every stage. They gave value throughout the project in ways we hadn't anticipated, largely due to the effort and time they put into understanding SafetyNet and our emergency services customers' operational needs," said Steve Lawrence, Head of Product, Design and Innovation, SafetyNet.