Frequentis AG: EU project BroadWay: BroadPort consortium led by FREQUENTIS successfully completed first Europe-wide demonstration

BroadWay: 1st Europe-wide demonstration

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Vienna (pta022/03.12.2020/15:45 UTC+1) In the face of the current crises, the need for improved cross-border operations is evident. Almost one year after the start of the BroadWay project and despite COVID-19, the BroadPort consortium completed the first Europe-wide demonstration in Spain, involving three remote locations in Europe, with a successful presentation of the progress of its prototype development.

BroadWay is an innovative European Pre-Commercial Procurement project working towards the objective of putting cross-border cooperation between first responders and public safety organisations on a new level. It aims to establish a pan-European, interoperable mobile broadband system for Public Protection & Disaster Relief (PPDR) users, with the highest standards of security and reliability. This includes the piloting of a mission-critical, Europe-wide broadband communication network for police, rescue, firefighters, and other blue-light organisations, allowing them to communicate at any time, regardless of their geographical location, helping to enable closer collaboration and save lives when disasters hit.

On 13 November 2020, the BroadPort consortium, led by Frequentis, successfully completed the first Europe-wide demonstration at the University of Málaga by showcasing the progress of its prototype development to the BroadWay stakeholders. It provided a first view of the innovative BroadPort solution design, based on a real implementation of the telecommunication industry standards and an optimised orchestration for the PPDR national networks including new ways for public safety responders to access and share information from anywhere, with assured confidence in the security, availability, and continuity of their services. The demonstration was rounded off with a complex use case scenario in which a simulated large forest fire on the Spanish-French border was extinguished. Seven LTE devices and one TETRA radio device were involved in the communication, partly connected via a satellite backbone, physically located in Málaga, Vienna, Paris, and with roaming to Rotterdam.

The interim demonstration was evaluated by a Technical Validation Committee, including technical experts from all over Europe, and a Practitioner Evaluation Validation Team consisting of representatives of 70 user organisations from all over Europe.

"Thanks to the excellent cooperation of the BroadPort consortium and the broad expertise, the establishment of a safety-critical broadband communication across four European locations could be set up very professionally. This is a major milestone in the project and a big move towards the final demonstration in Spring 2021," says Günter Graf, Vice President New Business Development at Frequentis.

The BroadPort consortium consists of the following partners: Crosscall, ETELM, Halys, Municipality of Málaga, Nemergent Solutions SL, and Universidad de Málaga. The subcontractors are Arico Technologies, Eutelsat SA, PrioCom B.V., Telefónica I+D, T-Mobile Netherlands B.V., and Virtual Fort Knox AG.

The BroadWay Group of Procurers includes 11 ministries or their delegated agency responsible for providing public safety communication capabilities in their country. They currently provide mobile communication services to 1.4 million first responders across Europe. The countries involved in the BroadWay PCP include: Belgium, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Italy, Ireland, The Netherlands, Romania, and Spain.

The BroadWay Project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and development programme under Grant Agreement No. 786912.

About FREQUENTIS

Frequentis, headquartered in Vienna, is an international supplier of communication and information systems for control centres with safety-critical tasks. Such 'control centre solutions' are developed and marketed by Frequentis in the business sectors Air Traffic Management (civil and military air traffic control, air defence) and Public Safety & Transport (police, fire brigade, ambulance services, shipping, railways). As a global player, Frequentis operates a worldwide network of branches, subsidiaries and local representatives in more than 50 countries. Products and solutions from Frequentis can be found in over 30,000 operator working positions and in approximately 140 countries.

Founded in 1947, Frequentis considers itself to be the global market leader in voice communication systems for air traffic control with a market share of around 30%. In addition, the Frequentis Group's AIM (aeronautical information management) and AMHS (aeronautical message handling) systems, as well as GSM-R systems for Public Transport are industry leading global solutions.

The shares of Frequentis AG are traded on the Vienna and Frankfurt Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol FQT (ISIN: ATFREQUENT09). In 2019, the Frequentis Group had about 1,850 employees worldwide and generated revenues of EUR 303.6 million and EBIT of EUR 17.2 million.

For more information, please visit https://www.frequentis.com

Brigitte Gschiegl, Director Corporate Communications, Frequentis AG,
brigitte.gschiegl@frequentis.com, +43 1 81150-1301

Stefan Marin, Head of Investor Relations, Frequentis AG,
stefan.marin@frequentis.com, +43 1 81150-1074

About Crosscall

Crosscall is a French brand of smartphones that has been in existence for 10 years and is experiencing strong growth. Its products as well as the ecosystem of accessories that accompanies them are specially designed to face the most difficult outdoor environments. As such, they offer exceptional resistance to shocks, dust, extreme temperatures, water and even more aggressive substances. Crosscall sells its products in France and abroad. It is referenced by many operators and positioned on both the B2B and B2C markets.

About ETELM

ETELM is a French SME with a core expertise and a solid experience in Mission and Business Critical Radio. ETELM has been designing, developing and manufacturing radio infrastructure for private fixed and tactical networks (PMR, TETRA and lately Mission Critical LTE) for more than 40 years. As a developer and manufacturer, ETELM invests continuously in the R&D activities and has the flexibility to provide tailored solutions in full conformity with the ETSI/3GPP standards.

Within the framework of the BroadWay project, ETELM will provide the BroadPort consortium with its Radio Access Infrastructure and Tactical Mission Critical Radio solution for quick and easy deployment on the field as well as its innovative, fully unified 4GLinked platform for a smooth transition from narrowband to broadband communications and seamless services across technologies.

About Halys

Halys is a French high technology company with 17 years of experience, which provides innovative LTE/4G/5G network solutions all around the world. Into BroadPort, Halys brings its broad expertise in carrier operations and inter-operators roaming and interworking. Halys will take care of the core 4G/5G elements of this project including its hubbing part for the relationship (roaming and interworking) between the partner countries (at mobile signalling and data) and the communications with the radio network.

About Municipality of Málaga

Malaga City Council, through its Local Police, is facilitating a 4G/5G deployment in the city centre within the framework of ICT-17 5GENESIS. The Local Police will provide users for demonstrations and their own DMR communications network for integration.

About Nemergent Solutions SL

Nemergent Solutions SL drives innovation, provides design for MC Services, monitors the requirements, standardization status and alignment of the proposed system with the tender objectives; responsible for the overall technical analysis and solution (architecture, protocols, integration, management, communication, way forward) to cope with cross-agency and cross-border seamless PPDR operations and communications, technical leadership and required MCS SW modules.

About Universidad de Malaga (UMA)

Universidad de Malaga is one of the main partners of Malaga Platform in the context of ICT-17 5GENESIS providing a fully controlled 4G/5G deployment in the campus and integration with Telefonica. Facilitates the Platform and executes many EU founded Telecommunication (Specially LTE/5G) research projects.

About Arico Technologies

Arico Technologies provides consultancy, training and project management services for the professional mobile radio industry. With its expertise in testing and certification, Arico Technologies is the independent subcontractor in the BroadWay project, responsible for the Technical Validation, Practitioner Evaluation and Acceptance support. http://www.arico-tech.eu

About Eutelsat SA

Eutelsat SA is the third largest Geostationary satellite fleet operator in the world with global coverage. The Eutelsat Konnect service will provide the European wide satellite broadband connectivity.

About PrioCom B.V.

PrioCom is the only Secure Mobile Virtual Network Operator (S-MVNO) for business and mission-critical communication which offers MCX services (MCPTT) all around Europe based on 4G and 5G coverage. The PrioCom solution is operating on T-Mobile networks for MC services with high accessibility and reliability. In phase 2 they focus on priority access to the T-Mobile Network.

About Telefónica I+D

Telefónica I+D is the research and development company of Telefónica Group. Its mission is to contribute to the Telefónica Group's competitiveness and modernity through technological innovation. Telefónica I+D one of the main partners of the 5GENESIS Platform, providing coverage, edge infrastructure and MOCN split among others, having in Malaga both commercial and R&D networks.

About T-Mobile Netherlands B.V.

T-Mobile Netherlands B.V. is a multinational telecommunication operator that operates in several EU Member states offering an extensive portfolio of mobile network services for consumers and business customers. Together with PrioCom they set a guest network for seamless and secure roaming scenarios.

About Virtual Fort Knox AG

Virtual Fort Knox AG is an independent subcontractor and responsible for security assurance with focus on Objective 3. Virtual Fort Knox is a spinoff by Fraunhofer Gesellschaft. VFK provides products which securely and easily interconnect software systems - "the software network" - to enable and further digitization and Industry 4.0 activities in the manufacturing industry. The delivery of digitization software networks requires leading expertise in automation functionalities and data security.

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Emitter:	Frequentis AG Innovationsstraße 1 1100 Wien Austria
Contact Person:	Stefan Marin
Phone:	+431811501074
E-Mail:	stefan.marin@frequentis.com
Website:	www.frequentis.com
ISIN(s):	ATFREQUENT09 (Share)
Stock Exchange(s):	Vienna Stock Exchange (Official Trade)
Other Stock Exchanges:	Regulierter Markt in Frankfurt