The Norwegian Government announced the launch of its next-generation emergency communications programme, designed to establish the first-of-its-kind, nationwide multi-network mission-critical service for first responders. The initiative will be coordinated by the Direktoratet for Sivil Bereds­kap (DSB) in partnership with the commercial operators and will significantly enhance voice, data, video and situational-awareness capabilities for the country’s emergency agencies.

Key Highlights

• The new system will integrate all three major Norwegian mobile network operators (MNOs) into a single mission-critical communications platform. Commercial infrastructures will be utilised, and a state-managed service layer will ensure the mission-critical requirements are met.

• The procurement notice published by DSB sets out that this “New Emergency Communications Network” is intended to replace the current TETRA-based Nødnett solution and will extend disaster-resilient broadband communications to all relevant agencies. 

• A market-dialogue phase has already been initiated, signalling the government’s readiness to engage industry on options that may include broadband (4G/5G and beyond), satellite/NTN augmentation and portable/backpack systems for resilience. 

• Plans indicate a transition period during which the current Nødnett TETRA network will remain in service while the new system is rolled out. The government emphasises that reliability, coverage and inter-agency interoperability must equal or surpass the existing network.

• The initiative is widely hailed as a globally pioneering model: by utilising all domestic commercial mobile network infrastructures under a mission-critical service segment, Norway positions itself at the forefront of public-safety communications innovation.

Strategic Aim & Benefits
The primary objective of the new system is to ensure that police, fire, rescue, health and other critical agencies maintain robust and seamless communications — even under extreme conditions or network stress. The benefits include:

• Improved situational awareness through high-bandwidth services such as live video, large file/data exchange, mapping and sensor integration.

• Priority and pre-emption management for first-responder traffic, guaranteeing access even during network congestion.

• Enhanced flexibility and future-proofing by leveraging commercial mobile evolution (4G, 5G, future releases) while maintaining state oversight of mission-critical service delivery.

• Cost-effective utilisation of existing infrastructure, allowing the state to focus on service-layer resilience, security and user-centric features rather than building a wholly-dedicated network.

Moving forward, DSB will open formal tenders once the market dialogue concludes and detailed requirements are finalized, engaging candidate vendors and system integrators in pilot deployments to validate resilience, interoperability, and performance against emergency-service standards. A phased migration strategy will safeguard uninterrupted service for existing Nødnett users during the transition to the new platform, while the parallel development of devices, terminals, operational procedures, and training programs will ensure that emergency-service agencies can seamlessly adopt and operate the upgraded system without disruption.

“By moving to a hybrid commercial-infrastructure model with a dedicated mission-critical service layer, we are building a future-proof emergency communications solution for Norway,” said the Minister for Digitalisation. 

“This country is setting a new benchmark in public-safety communications by using market infrastructure to meet national security and resilience requirements,” added the Director-General of DSB.