September, 1999
ICS Electronics are pleased to announce the signature of a contract with Embratel for the supply of coast radio station equipment to Brazil.
Embratel(the country’s principal long distance telephone company, which is 52% owned by MCI in the United States) has contracted ICS to bring Brazil into the new Global Maritime Distress and Safety System.
Installation of the system will be fully completed by October 1999, and the overall contract value is GBP1.34 million (USD2.1 million).
In order to implement the new system, Brazil’s main Operational Centre-RENEC at Guaratiba will be linked to radio station sites at Manaus, Recife and Rio de Janeiro, with operator terminals operating under Windows NT to be located at the Navy’s Rescue Co-ordination Centre in Rio de Janeiro. It is perhaps interesting to note that one of the coast radio station sites is 1,000 miles from the sea – on the river Amazon. Area A3 (HF) DSC and NBDP coverage will be provided from these three radio stations, which can all be controlled by one operator from a single user terminal.
Alan Clemmetsen, Managing Director of ICS, said, ‘It is pleasing to win a second major GMDSS coast radio station infrastructure project in South America. Three years ago, we installed some 60 GMDSS coast radio stations, covering the coast of Chile. This includes Cape Horn. However, what most probably clinched this contact was the visit that the Brazilians paid to the UK, where they saw the infrastructure system which we recently supplied for the UK coastguard. This comprises 22 Rescue Co-ordination Centres linked to 106 remote radio sites. This may well be the largest GMDSS infrastructure system currently operating in any part of the world.’
ICS Electronics are a fast growing manufacturer of GMDSS systems for ship-borne applications - from Navies (including the Royal Navy) down to the smallest yacht. An increasing proportion of the company’s business, however, comes from coast radio station activities, which has enabled the company’s turnover to more than double in the last year. The company is currently about to deliver a new message handling system for the UK’s Navtex and SafetyNet services and numerous other GMDSS infrastructure projects are under negotiation in various parts of the world.