Motorola Solutions scores $10m QGC network management deal

Motorola Solutions will manage and operate the communications network for Queensland Gas Corporation's liquefied natural gas project in southern Queensland for the next five years.

The project turns the coal seam gas reserves into liquefied natural gas, which is then transported through 540km of underground pipeline to Curtis Island where it is liquefied.

The deal, worth AU$10 million, puts Motorola Solutions in charge of the communications network for Chinchilla and Curtis Island sites of the project, with the latter coming online at the start of 2015.

Motorola Solutions helped deploy the AU$32 million network back in 2011, which is now one of the largest terrestrial trunked radio (TETRA) networks in Australia, with 33 base stations connecting over 2,000 radio handsets operating in the 450-470MHz range.

Motorola also provided GPS tracking for vehicles, desk terminals, a dispatcher console, voice recorder, CCTV, email, and telephony.

Now the company's role shifts to management of the network, ensuring performance and uptime guarantees. The company will manage the network from its Network Operations Centre in Melbourne, and have on-site support.

Motorola Solution's Australian managing director Steven Crutchfield said that shifting to the management role will help improve efficiency and productivity on the network.

"Our extended partnership with the organisation as a part of this managed services contract will further help them increase efficiency and productivity by providing certainty of operational performance, and most importantly help them achieve their number one priority of enabling a safer working environment for their employees," he said in a statement.