Business Weekly - Cambridge, UK

It has won a major order to supply the country's police under a contract with the Ministry of the Interior.

The order forms part of a large-scale reform of all branches of the police service in the Balkan state, including a new TETRA network funded by the EU.

State police in urban and rural areas and the Border Police will use the radios to give secure, continuous, instant and clear communication.

The landlocked state has encountered problems along its borders where mountainous and sparsely populated terrain has made it a target for illegal immi gration and smuggling of drugs, weapons, alcohol and tobacco.

Nearly 4000 radios will be supplied including SRH3800 sGPS™ handheld radios and SRG3500 vehicle radios which include Gateway functionality to ensure continuous reception in blackspots of network coverage.

All handheld and some of the vehicle radios will benefit from GPS to locate each police officer or vehicle using the TETRA radio.

The European Agency for Reconstruction funded the overall TETRA project at a cost of €9 million, where Siemens, in partnership with Rohde and Schwarz, implemented the TETRA network.

The deal follows recent Sepura sales wins in eastern Europe including Bulgaria and Hungary.

Sepura TETRA digital radios have also been chosen by one of the world's leading train manu facturers, Canadian firm Bombardier Transportation, for use at its factory in the north of France.

The SRH3500 handheld radios are needed to meet new requirements for communications in security and fire services and to assist industrial production processes.

Bombardier is currently progressing one of the largest orders in French rail history for $3.4 billion to build 372 trains for the Paris commuter line.

These futuristic trains with extra-wide carriages will increase the ease and speed of passenger movement.

The factory at Crespin in northern France employs 1,600 people and such a large manufacturing plant requires security and fire operations of the highest order to react quickly to any emergency.