Conducted by Tait Electronics, under subcontract to Telstra, the contract was worth more than A$18 million (US$13 million) to the Brisbane-based company.

Tait Electronics was responsible for providing Telstra with network switching and radio technologies as part of the carrier's contract extension to replace Victoria's trunked radio network.

The SMR upgrade was one of the largest infrastructure projects managed by Telstra last year and covered 101 sites, 500 channels and four switch nodes, which supports more than 17,000 terminals.

The upgraded network and channel capacity can be leveraged by the Victorian government for world-class events such as the forthcoming 2006 Commonwealth Games.

Tait managing director, Dr Peter Baines, said the network was designed and built using open standards, enabling interoperability and increased coordination between state-wide emergency service and essential services. The upgraded network also provides enhanced data application capabilities to help support the increasing requirements of information management in the field.