KENORA, Ont. — Ontario's Public Safety Radio Network (PSRN) will be rebuilt at a cost of nearly $800 million.
Premier Doug Ford made the announcement Thursday during a visit to Kenora.
The government has awarded a contract to Bell Mobility for the reconstruction of core infrastructure, the replacement of outdated equipment and the maintenance of the net network for 15 years.
The PSRN is used by 38,000 frontline workers and emergency responders including OPP, paramedics and hospital staff, forest fire services, provincial highway maintenance staff, and parks, enforcement and correctional officers.
The updated system is expected to be in service by June 2023.
Ontario's PSRN, one of the largest and most complex networks of its kind in North America, was last replaced in 1998.
Situations it is used in include:
- Coordination of OPP high speed pursuits
- Communications between intelligence agencies to coordinate surveillance/anti-terrorism activities
- Dispatch of an ambulance in response to a call from a member of the public suffering from a heart attack and communication of patient condition en route to a hospital
- Communications between forest firefighters in Northern Ontario to coordinate fire suppression and water-bombing efforts
- Dispatch of backup support to an enforcement or OPP officer in trouble
- Communications in support of carrier safety, conservation, environment and tax law enforcement
- Coordination of multi-agency response to large-scale accidents/weather disasters
- Coordination of communications within correctional facilities and between corrections and police officers during client transport to and from detention centre, court or hospital.
Network equipment is installed in:
- 22 central ambulance, five OPP and Ministry of Transportation's (MTO) communications centres
- 350 ambulance bases
- 167 hospitals and 2,200 emergency health vehicles
- 170 boats
- 172 OPP detachments and 4,000 policing vehicles
- 2,700 MTO maintenance vehicles and 161 patrol yards
- 114 bailiff and transport vehicles
- 23 adult and six youth correctional facilities run by the province
- Provincial parks
- Far North communities
According to a government news release, radios are used instead of cell phones because it allows direct communication from individual to individual or from an individual to groups at the push of a single button.
"This capability is vital in coordinating the types of emergency responses faced by police, ambulance, fire services and other users and is a critical part of their daily operations," the statement said..
Radio communications technology also allows for significantly more coverage and communications across Ontario than is available through cellular services.
