Mobile communications are an essential and critically important part of any modern oilfield. The introduction of TETRA over the last few years has afforded staff safe and secure voice and data radio communication services. Following the construction of a radio base station at QAWTP and the training of staff members at the facility, full coverage range of TETRA for the field is complete and now extend as far as Basra Airport.

TETRA is the leading technology within the industry. Its transmission at Rumaila is executed via six radio base stations and 1800 radio terminals consisting of handheld, vehicle mounted and desktop devices. It offers improved coverage and speech clarity, and as a result of its encryption facilities, it enables conversations to be much more secure. Unlike traditional phone systems and VHF (very high frequency) radio systems, TETRA also provides improved features like an emergency button and hands-free voice transmitting.

As well as traditional walkie-talkie functionality, the system can track each individual radio through the use of a Global Positioning System (GPS), allow calls from the radios to any Rumaila telephone, disable missing or stolen radios, capture voice recording, call logging, text messaging and paging.

All of these features mean that TETRA is extremely reliable and works exceptionally well in emergency situations. Historically, Rumaila’s communications systems have been vulnerable to external factors, such as bad weather or fluctuating quality in mobile phone reception. Such factors can cause significant disruption and have a detrimental impact to responses in critical situations.

However, since the full implementation of the new technology, which is being used by Rumaila’s fleet of ambulances and clinics, fire brigade services and the security team, staff are much better equipped to deal with emergency situations. and the value of having a system like TETRA has already been extremely evident.