Hello Moto! UK Home Office shoves comms giant another £82m to stay on Emergency Services Network gig

The UK Home Office has extended its Emergency Services Network contract with Motorola, intended to shift blue-light services to 4G. The move signals further delays to an already troubled programme. In the contract award notice published this week, the department said it was extending the deal until December 2024. That will …

[BebopWeBop]

So someone, sometime, somewhere in Whitehall was optimistic about hitting delivery cedules? Call me deluded but....

[Pier Reviewer]

EE use Huawei in their core. EE taking over the ESN gig just got interesting:) Tbh it’s been known about for years, but recent developments have made it a bit trickier. Moto are just well placed to milk it.

[Wellyboot]

going for a record fail.

£2.6Bn & 5 years (so far) late and the original start date for a £1.2Bn contract is still 6 months away...

It would be cheaper to use the Armies radio net & send out a squaddie with every plod / fire engine & ambulance.

[Commswonk]

Re: going for a record fail.

It would be cheaper to use the Armies radio net & send out a squaddie with every plod / fire engine & ambulance

It would be, but it also would probably not work.

Still has the appearance of a record fail, though.

[Hubert Thrunge Jr.]

Re: going for a record fail.

Better Off With Maps And Nokia to coin a phrase....

[Refugee from Windows]

Re: going for a record fail.

I've just got a feeling that the military won't be able to cope.

They're be a few containers of DMR handhelds being held in a goverment warehouse somewhere. Late, overbudget and not delivering service anyone?

[Alister]

So the pie-in-the-sky idea based on infrastructure that didn't exist, and incorporating features which were not available, at the time of the proposal, is running over time and over budget.

Well I never...

[codejunky]

Oh

Chalk another up for government. Give them an inch and they throw inches of currency away.

[BebopWeBop]

Re: Oh

To the bidder: Never mind the details, just feel the thickness of our wad"

[Red Ted]

I think the phrase is...

...that Motorola have them 'over a barrel' and there is nothing they can do about it.

It's almost as if Motorola and EE planned it....

[Vince]

Re: I think the phrase is...

I hate defending EE but from everything I've heard/been told, EE are waiting on Motorola to get the hell on with stuff...

[wyatt]

Re: I think the phrase is...

I spoke to someone within EE at BAPCO and they were fairly confident they were in a good position to go ahead. All this talk of the contract period being increased, shouldn't they be going out for tender for the next 5/10 years after this contract has finished by now? Now that will be interesting..

[Commswonk]

Re: I think the phrase is...

I spoke to someone within EE at BAPCO and they were fairly confident they were in a good position to go ahead.

This comment is hardly "original" but that doesn't make it inapplicable: Well he would, wouldn't he?

Also note "fairly confident"; hardly the same as "definitely ready to go ahead" is it?

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: I think the phrase is...

Doesn't Motorola have EE/the Home Office over a barrel because the barrel is the existing, working system that is supposed to have been decommissioned by now?

My understanding is EE's replacement solution hasn't delivered full coverage or usable functionality (I accept that the proposed full functionality is merely a pipe dream) and the agreed (vs the requried...) coverage is still a few years away from being delivered.

I maybe wrong - all corrections welcome.

[Anonymous Coward]

At this pace....

... when the new 4G system will be fully operative, 4G will be fully obsolete and 9G will run the world...

[JimboSmith]

Re: At this pace....

9G?!?

I've only just got over the sight of Kevin Bacon with grey hair and moustache in the current EE 5G ads. He could be appearing on life support in their 9G adverts.