Benefits of the Public Safety Network 

New Zealand’s Emergency Services are made up of approximately 35,000 staff and volunteers who attend over five million calls for help every year. They must be able to respond at any time, and in any place based on accurate and timely information.

The Public Safety Network brings many benefits for the public and emergency responders.

Safety

By being able to track location and status of emergency responders, the Public Safety Network can improve their safety. Emergency communications are secure and can’t be intercepted, ensuring privacy of people’s information, and increasing safety for responders and the public. Emergency communications will take priority over other mobile users on cellular networks when the networks are congested (due to unusually high use) or degraded (due to an incident).

Coverage

The Public Safety Network will provide a reliable and resilient emergency communication network for New Zealand, especially important during significant weather related or other natural disasters.

Common capability

Emergency services can directly share information with each other during multi agency responses enabling improved response coordination.

Future-proof

The Public Safety Network will provide the potential for services like video, messaging and data services to be used alongside voice capability, improving the ongoing capability of emergency responders and their work.

New ways of working

The Public Safety Network will enable responders to access more information to improve situational awareness and response.