FORM 6-K
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
Report of Foreign Private Issuer
Pursuant to Rule 13a-16 or 15d-16
of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934
19 July 2005
O2 plc
Wellington Street
Slough, Berkshire SL1 1YP, England
(Address of principal executive offices)
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant files or will file annual reports
under cover Form 20-F or Form 40-F
Form 20-F..X... Form 40-F.....
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant by furnishing the information
contained in this Form is also thereby furnishing the information to the
Commission pursuant to Rule 12g3-2(b) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.
Yes ..... No ..X...
If "Yes" is marked, indicate below the file number assigned to the registrant
in connection with Rule 12g3-2(b): 82 ________
Enclosure: Re Contract
Copy of announcement regarding Re Contract sent to the London Stock Exchange
on 19 July 2005
O2 AIRWAVE WINS AMBULANCE COMMUNICATIONS CONTRACT
Released: 19 July 2005
O2 Airwave today announced that it has been successful in its bid to provide a
communications service to all Ambulance Trusts in England. The total value of
the contract for network access and the provision and integration of equipment
is approximately GBP390 million over 13 years. When the system is installed,
patients will benefit from reliable voice and data services that will enhance
the scope of care delivery by paramedics at incident scenes and help to improve
ambulance response times.
The Scottish Ambulance Service and the Welsh Ambulance Service Trust are
scheduled to make a decision on the choice of their new communications solution
in the near future.
Airwave, the national digital radio communications network dedicated to the
emergency services, has already been rolled out to all 51 geographical police
forces in England, Scotland and Wales. O2 Airwave is also shortlisted for the
Fire Service national contract. If all the mainland Ambulance and Fire services
subsequently adopt the Airwave service, they will join an existing 150,000
Police users. With 78 other Public Safety related organisations already signed
up to the service, the potential number of UK users is now well in excess of a
quarter of a million.
The new communications solution for the English Ambulance Trusts will give them
up-to-date digital, secure and crystal-clear voice calls. Airwave also makes it
possible to deliver a wide range of highly resilient and secure data services to
front-line ambulances. In addition to emergency and routine private
communications, paramedics and control room operators will be able to talk
directly with police at the scene of an incident when it is operationally
beneficial.
The Health Minister, Lord Warner, stated: "This new digital service will help
deliver better patient care by enabling ambulances to communicate more
effectively, improve interfaces with hospitals and increase interoperability
with the wider NHS.
"The service will provide a faster, more reliable service - facilitating
improved safety and support for NHS staff, increase security and enable a better
response to major incidents through improved response time and interoperability
between emergency services."
O2 Airwave and SunGard Vivista will provide a range of products and services
under the contract. These include supplying radio terminals to paramedics and
ambulance staff, migrating existing mobile data applications to work on the new
digital network as well as providing Integrated Communications Control Systems
(ICCS) for all dispatch centres.
Pete Richardson, managing director of O2 Airwave, said: "We are extremely
pleased to welcome NHS Ambulance Trusts to Airwave and look forward to deploying
the technology to the benefit of patients and staff. Airwave is the only
comprehensive communications service designed in Great Britain specifically for
the emergency services and public safety agencies. Now that it is fully
available across the country, we are receiving interest from a growing number of
organisations that need reliable and flexible communications."
In addition to the emergency services, Airwave is available to over 120
organisations with a public safety role and already being used by the MOD, the
Highways Agency and several County Councils.
-ends-
Notes to Editors:
Improved response times and patient care
The new digital technology will enable services to improve response times
through status messaging, alert paging, resource/incident location and
mobilisation messaging. In an emergency the call centre needs to be able to
access information as quickly as possible. The digital network will feed
on-board equipment with the incident location co-ordinates, details about the
patient, nature of the incident and other free text information. A reliable data
service reduces errors and the need to re-transmit information over noisy radio
channels.
The digital radio communications network is planned to help improve patient care
by allowing the paramedic to transmit an emergency patient health record,
including, where appropriate, patient vital signs and electrocardiogram rhythms,
ahead to the receiving hospital. It should also allow direct access to a variety
of databases such as patient care protocols, bed status or A&E capacity.
Proven Benefits for Ambulance Trusts and Patients
Airwave has already proven valuable in improving patient care at the Hereford &
Worcester Ambulance Service NHS Trust and the Mersey Regional Ambulance Service
by putting paramedics and hospital consultants directly in touch with each
other. In Hereford & Worcester, a patient's vital signs can be transmitted in
real time from an ambulance enabling consultants and hospital staff to analyse
them and to authorise paramedics to administer life-saving thrombolysing drugs
to heart attack patients. Over 150 patients have now benefited from this
technology - most are treated within the 'golden hour' and, in one instance,
paramedics were able to administer drugs to a patient within 16 minutes of them
calling for an ambulance. Services such as these will be possible in all areas
where the Airwave system is in operation.
Chief Executive of Hereford and Worcester Ambulance Service NHS Trust, Russell B
Hamilton, commented: "I am very pleased to reach this landmark. Our use of this
technology puts Hereford and Worcester Ambulance Service at the leading edge of
pre-hospital care in the country. All those living and working within the two
counties can have the utmost confidence in the care we provide."
Key Features of Airwave
Airwave is a sophisticated communications system for the emergency and other
public safety ('blue light') services. It will help make Britain safer by
facilitating more effective and efficient ways of working for the emergency
services, and the opportunity for more 'joined up' public safety services.
- For the first time ever, emergency services can have radio coverage
whenever and wherever they need it - even in radio 'cold spots'.
- Airwave will enable emergency services to communicate seamlessly
regardless of location for the first time ever
- Because all Airwave communications are encrypted, they cannot be
scanned or monitored by outsiders. The network is highly resilient
- The system enables both voice and data communications and gives the
emergency services wide flexibility in choosing how to communicate.
O2 plc
O2 plc has 100% ownership of mobile network operators in three countries - the
UK, Germany and Ireland - as well as a leading mobile Internet portal business.
All of these businesses are branded as 'O2'. The company is a founding member of
Starmap Mobile Alliance, has operations on the Isle of Man (Manx Telecom) and
owns O2 Airwave - an advanced, digital emergency communications service. In
addition, O2 has established the Tesco Mobile and Tchibo Mobilfunk joint venture
businesses in the UK and Germany respectively.
O2 has around 24 million customers and some 15,000 employees. It reported
revenues for the year ended 31 March 2005 of GBP6.683 billion. Data represented
26% of total service revenues in the quarter ending 31 March 2005.
SunGard Vivista
Founded in 1971, SunGard Vivista is a well established, leading Information and
Communication Technology and business support company providing systems and
services to the UK public safety, criminal justice and local government sectors.
SunGard Vivista is based in Chippenham, Wiltshire with offices around the UK.
www.vivista.co.uk
O2 plc contact: O2 Airwave contact:
David Nicholas Sue Moore
Director of Communications Communications Manager
O2 plc O2 Airwave
david.nicholas@o2.com susan.moore@o2.com
t: +44 (0) 771 575 9176 t: +44 (0) 776 435 0834
O2 press office: +44 (0) 1753 628402
All O2 Group news releases can be accessed at our web site: www.o2.com
SIGNATURE
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the
registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the
undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.
O2 plc
Date: 19 July 2005 By:___/s/ Robert Harwood___
ROBERT HARWOOD
Assistant Secretary