Petrobras, Brazil

Petrobras then looked to Tait as a trusted, reliable and P25-compliant supplier to provide 1657 trunked digital P25 terminals that could be used on their existing ASTRO 25 network.

These 1657 radios included portables, mobiles and fixed station units, and were acquired separately from the network infrastructure via a leasing contract. Given the hazardous nature of the environments where the radios are deployed all Tait P25 portables were supplied as Intrinsically Safe. Some terminals were also supplied with high-level DES encryption for added security for sensitive communications between high level staff.

Given the importance of worker safety to Petrobras, Tait P25 trunked radios are also capable of making emergency calls and alarms, have Lone Worker and Man Down functionality, and can be disabled and enabled remotely via the network in the case of radio theft.

Open-standard APCO P25 technology was also of critical importance to Petrobras so that they were not "locked in" to purchasing from one manufacturer and could benefit through price competition. Indeed Tait Communications competitive pricing was one of the key factors as to why Tait was awarded the contract. Moreover Tait Communications entry into the oil and gas market in Brazil has resulted in significant savings for Petrobras, as market prices for P25 terminals have been reduced some 30-40% thanks to this competition.

As well as providing interoperability with their existing manufacturers' P25 radios, Tait radios can also make or receive telephone calls over the P25 network (via the PABX), have built-in VOX capability and have all menu text displayed in Portuguese.