What is TETRA?
TETRA stands for TErrestrial Trunked RAdio. It is a communications system, operated by Airwave mmO2, designed to give the police and other emergency services a secure communication channel. It also aims to allow one police force to communicate with another, and the police to communicate with the fire service and other emergency services.The TETRA system is a Home Office initiative being rolled out throughout the UK. TETRA will cost over 2.9 billion to put in place, but the government is now committed to it because it has made billions by selling off to mobile phone companies the airwaves which the police previously used. Controversy has followed TETRA since its inception, with questions raised about the choice of that particular system, the Public Accounts Committee saying that money may have been wasted on the new system, and the European Commission stating that the Home Office had unlawfully limited the contract to tenders which could provide the TETRA standard, excluding the alterna
