The Emergency Services Network is an

LTE LTE may refer to: Science and technology * LTE (telecommunication) (Long-Term Evolution), a mobile telephony standard ** LTE Advanced, an enhancement ** LTE Advanced Pro, a further enhancement * Compaq LTE, a line of laptop computers * Leukotrie ...

radio communications network under development in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

to provide unified communication for British emergency services. It is intended to replace the existing

TETRA Tetra is the common name of many small freshwater characiform fishes. Tetras come from Africa, Central America, and South America, belonging to the biological families Characidae, Alestidae (the "African tetras"), Lepidarchidae, Lebiasi ...

-based Airwave network in 2026, seven years after the original planned date of 2019, though this may be delayed. The ESN is intended to offer the following services: * ESN Air, to support emergency services aircraft * ESN Connect, a SIM-only offer for vehicle modems and data-only devices * ESN Direct, a

push-to-talk Push-to-talk (PTT), also known as press-to-transmit, is a method of having conversations or talking on half-duplex communication lines, including two-way radio, using a momentary button to switch from voice reception mode to transmit mode. H ...

and messaging product for smartphones As part of the construction of the ESN, almost 300 extra 4G sites will be added to extend the reach of the EE network to more remote parts of the country. The ESN will also serve the

London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or as the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent home counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England. The Undergro ...

network.

History

In April 2014, the government announced the Emergency Services Mobile Communications Programme (ESMCP) to migrate emergency services to a 4G-based network, to be called the Emergency Services Network. One of the intentions of this program was to switch from the private Airwave network to an existing commercial network. The switch was intended to begin in 2017 and be completed in 2019 before the existing Airwave contract was set to expire. Implementation of the network was split into three lots. In June 2015, O2 announced they would be pulling out the bidding process for providing mobile services which left only EE in negotiations. At this point Airwave was not listed as bidding for operating any part of the ESMCP. In August 2015 the delivery partner was named as

Kellogg Brown & Root KBR, Inc. (formerly Kellogg Brown & Root) is a U.S. based company operating in fields of science, technology and engineering. KBR works in various markets including aerospace, defense, industrial and intelligence. After Halliburton acquired Dres ...

. Finally, in December 2015 EE was officially announced as the provider of mobile services and

Motorola Solutions Motorola Solutions, Inc. is an American technology, communications, and security company, headquartered in Chicago, Chicago, Illinois. It is the legal successor of Motorola, Inc., following the spinoff of the mobile phone division into Motorola ...

was named as the provider of user services. In November 2022,

announced that it was planning to end its ESN contract early. In August 2024, BT and its mobile subsidary EE entered a new contract with the Home Office worth £1.85bn to provide mobile services for 7.25 years. In January 2025, the

Home Office The Home Office (HO), also known (especially in official papers and when referred to in Parliament) as the Home Department, is the United Kingdom's interior ministry. It is responsible for public safety and policing, border security, immigr ...

announced that

IBM International Business Machines Corporation (using the trademark IBM), nicknamed Big Blue, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York, and present in over 175 countries. It is ...

would be taking over the delivery of user services.

Delays

In January 2017, the

Public Accounts Committee A public accounts committee (PAC) is a committee within a legislature whose role is to study public audits, invite ministers, permanent secretaries or other ministry officials to the committee for questioning, and report on their findings subseque ...

announced that the ESN might not be ready for its December 2019 deadline. In September 2018, it was announced that Airwave's existing contract would be renewed until December 2022. In June 2022, a procurement request was issued for up to three suppliers of TETRA Encryption Algorithm 2 radio devices, and other maintenance services. As of 2022, the ESN is now expected to start operations from 2026.

ESN Beta

ESN Beta is a beta test network intended as a forerunner to the ESN. It is not intended to be used for mission-critical operations. This is to be followed by ESN Version 1.0, the first fielded version of the ESN service.

References

{{reflist Public safety networks Telecommunications in the United Kingdom