INFOGRAPHIC
INFOGRAPHIC
A network you can trust,
enhancing public safety in Africa
P
ublic safety is of concern for all
countries, with teams spending
hours working tirelessly to ensure
that citizens are protected. Such incidents
include natural disasters, crime spikes, or
any unrest that may occur. In 2017, several
African countries were hit by unforeseen
disasters. These included floods in Nigeria
and Niger, the Sierra Leone mudslides and
devastating fires in both Kenya and South
Africa. In these times of crisis, technology
has a crucial role to play in ensuring
that public safety teams can effectively
communicate in real time to mitigate
the impact of disasters and reach the
concerned sites on time.
According to Jan Liebenberg, Head of
Market and Business Development for
Nokia Southern Africa, 3GPP mobile
technology will become an even more
critical component, not only in connecting a
specific public safety team but also ensuring
interconnectivity between different teams to
improve situational awareness.
“Typically, the police, fire brigade and
ambulance services don’t have connectivity
between each other,” he said. “Each
emergency service has their own network
or their own voice communications system
and might not share a command and
control centre.
“With the adoption of mobile broadband
technology, public safety networks
can benefit from the advantages of
interconnectivity, fast and reliable
broadband data and real-time video
services, opening new communications
possibilities for rescue missions and disaster
recovery situations.
“This will enable them to call, listen or share
information with each other to get a better
grasp of their operational environment,
improve real-time collaboration and co-
ordination when the situation requires
urgent attention.”
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INTELLIGENTCIO
In an ideal world the different public safety
teams would be able to communicate across
a single, secure network, but, this is not
always the case, particularly when legacy
networks are involved.
“We can maintain the old networks and start
to enhance those networks by adding newer
technology with updated functionalities
and then gradually phase out the older
networks,” added Liebenberg.
“So, from a total cost of ownership
perspective, the old assets that have
already been invested in are maintained,
while new capabilities are added gradually.
In this way we don’t have to replace
the complete public safety network
environment in one big step.”
Cyberattacks are a growing threat to all
types of mission critical networks, including
those used by all emergency services.
In most African countries, governments
are starting to realise the importance of
security and discussion around cybersecurity
policies are in the works. In South Africa, the
government is in the process of establishing
a Cybercrimes and Cybersecurity Bill.
Liebenberg says that today’s networks have
evolved and that security is at the core of the
network. “Public safety networks are often
“
“
WE CAN
MAINTAIN THE
OLD NETWORKS
AND START TO
ENHANCE THOSE
NETWORKS BY
ADDING NEWER
TECHNOLOGY
WITH UPDATED
FUNCTIONALITIES
AND THEN
GRADUALLY
PHASE OUT
THE OLDER
NETWORKS.
private networks, which means they are
only accessible by the public safety workers
via their special devices, SIM cards, and
authentication mechanisms,” he said. n
PUBLIC SAFETY NETWORKS
ARE OFTEN PRIVATE NETWORKS,
WHICH MEANS THEY ARE ONLY
ACCESSIBLE BY THE PUBLIC
SAFETY WORKERS VIA THEIR
SPECIAL DEVICES, SIM CARDS, AND
AUTHENTICATION MECHANISMS.
www.intelligentcio.com