Acquisition of digital "Blaufunk" radio system for public authorities

The basis for successfully coping with extreme situations such as flooding or major damage (ship accidents, pollutant events) is continuous, functioning communication between the emergency or auxiliary personnel and the authorities. In cooperation with the Federal Ministry of the Interior, the Province of Lower Austria therefore set up a modern, state-of-the-art digital radio network for Lower Austria, which has been available to all authorities and organisations with security tasks (BOS) throughout the province since mid-2009. The so-called "BOS Radio" is a non-public mobile radio service that guarantees a stable radio connection even in the event of a breakdown of mobile phone networks. Furthermore, regions with little or no mobile radio coverage are also served.

Mobile telephones are currently in use in the viadonau flood service, with the Danube flood in June 2013 and the "Regional disaster management exercise 2018" in particular showing that mobile radio coverage at the flood protection dams is inadequate. A further major advantage of the BOS network is the uniform equipment and radio standard of all authorities and organisations with security tasks that can contact each other via radio once the respective voice groups have been activated. Since in Lower Austria all authorities/organisations important in the event of a flood are already equipped with BOS radio, the equipment of the viadonau flood service (in the area of the DHK and the water associations on the March/Thaya) with "Blaufunkgeräte" is regarded as an essential step towards ensuring the quality of the flood service in the long term.