Airwave, the supplier behind the Terrestrial Trunked Radio (Tetra) communications network used by the emergency services, recorded some of the highest traffic volumes ever seen across its central London network during the New Year celebrations.
Airwave, which is involved in the tender process for the Emergency Services Network (ESN) set to replace the current comms system from 2017, reported a 32% increase in call volumes compared with 31 December 2013.
During the 24-hour period from midday on 31 December 2014 to midday on 1 January 2015, it recorded 2.15 million calls on the Airwave network in London, with 615,000 in the central event area where the New Year’s Eve celebrations took place.
At its busiest, 139,000 calls were made in London in one hour, over 50,000 of them in the main event area. London Ambulance Services director Jason Killens tweeted that he had received more than 100 emergency calls between midnight and 12.15am.
By comparison, on a normal day the network might carry around 30,000 calls in central London, and 12 months earlier it saw 105,000 calls in the busiest hour.
The spike in traffic volumes came in spite of major changes made to London’s New Year’s celebrations by mayor Boris Johnson. Whereas in previous years around 500,000 people crammed into the central area, this year just 100,000 paying ticket holders were allowed in to watch the 11-minute display centred on the London Eye.
Extra capacity
New Year’s Eve is Airwave's second largest annual event in London, after the Notting Hill Carnival. Planning began in November 2014, when network operations director Martin Benké first sat down with the Metropolitan Police, the British Transport Police and the London Ambulance Service to co-ordinate their network requirements on the big day.
Although Airwave’s network is always configured to provide dedicated and flexible capacity, at special events where use is substantially above the norm it first tries to gauge how the emergency services will be using the network, how many operatives are likely to be on the ground and how many talk groups they will want.
During the 24-hour period from midday on 31 December 2014 to midday on 1 January 2015, it recorded 2.15 million calls on the Airwave network in London, with 615,000 in the central event area where the New Year’s Eve celebrations took place.
At its busiest, 139,000 calls were made in London in one hour, over 50,000 of them in the main event area. London Ambulance Services director Jason Killens tweeted that he had received more than 100 emergency calls between midnight and 12.15am.
By comparison, on a normal day the network might carry around 30,000 calls in central London, and 12 months earlier it saw 105,000 calls in the busiest hour.
The spike in traffic volumes came in spite of major changes made to London’s New Year’s celebrations by mayor Boris Johnson. Whereas in previous years around 500,000 people crammed into the central area, this year just 100,000 paying ticket holders were allowed in to watch the 11-minute display centred on the London Eye.
Extra capacity
New Year’s Eve is Airwave's second largest annual event in London, after the Notting Hill Carnival. Planning began in November 2014, when network operations director Martin Benké first sat down with the Metropolitan Police, the British Transport Police and the London Ambulance Service to co-ordinate their network requirements on the big day.
Although Airwave’s network is always configured to provide dedicated and flexible capacity, at special events where use is substantially above the norm it first tries to gauge how the emergency services will be using the network, how many operatives are likely to be on the ground and how many talk groups they will want.