A summary of items that have come before the Board of the NSW Government Telecommunications Authority.
Government Radio Network Performance
The Board noted that GRN is performing within the service level of 99.95%, and has achieved or exceeded the contractual targets for the past seven months. With the improved reliability of the GRN, focus is now being applied to agency usage during major incidences.
Funding Model
The Board has been advised that the Authority’s new funding model has been approved by the Minister for Finance and is currently with NSW Treasury.
Council Engagement Project
The Telco Authority is working with recently amalgamated councils to explore how they can benefit from the products and services offered by Telco. All 20 of the merged councils have been engaged and the level of interest in GRN, CCEP and PTT is high. All councils are interested in working more with the Telco Authority.
Emergency Management
The Authority’s Emergency Management team and the GRN Network Operation’s staff were involved in a Sydney CBD Emergency Management Exercise on 28 August 2016. One of the focuses of the exercise was to test the reliability of public communications. Most agency usage was handled from the GRN site in the Sydney CBD. The GRN performed as expected and handled all traffic demands placed upon it.
Major incidents
The Board has been advised that to help the SES and other ESOs in the flood-stricken areas in the Central West of NSW, the Authority has deployed two Cells on Wheels (CoWs) to Forbes and Bedgerabong (a village west of Forbes along the Lachlan River) to provide radio communications for personnel working in those areas.
Rod Gilmour, Chairperson
NSW Telco Authority
December 2016