What Is the Public Safety Network?
The Public Safety Network (PSN) is New Zealand's answer to a genuinely hard problem: how do you give Police, Fire and Emergency, Hato Hone St John and Wellington Free Ambulance communications that work when everything else is under strain, and let them talk to each other rather than four separate radio systems that can't interoperate?
Cabinet approved the programme in 2022, backing it with roughly $1.7 billion over 10 years. It has two main parts: a new digital Land Mobile Radio (LMR) network, encrypted and built for resilience during major events, and PSN Cellular Services, which give priority access and roaming across commercial mobile networks. The cellular side is already live and in use by over 25,000 frontline responders. The radio network is the bigger, longer build.
Why SafetyNet Replaced NGCC
Until this year, the programme was run by Next Generation Critical Communications (NGCC), a unit sitting inside NZ Police. Cabinet approved moving it out into its own independent Crown company in November 2025, and SafetyNet Critical Communications formally launched on 1 July 2026, led by CEO Steve Ferguson, who has directed the programme since 2020.
The practical difference is scope. As an independent Crown company, SafetyNet can now offer PSN Cellular Services commercially to organisations well beyond the original four emergency services. Maritime NZ's Rescue Coordination Centre, Surf Lifesaving NZ, the National Emergency Management Agency and Selwyn District Council are among the first new customers being onboarded.
Tait's Role in Building It
Tait Systems NZ, a wholly owned subsidiary of Tait Communications (Kordia now sits as a sub-contractor, having previously been a joint venture partner), is the vendor building the 500-site Land Mobile Radio network. Tait is also manufacturing and installing more than 22,000 radio terminals for emergency vehicles, stations and personnel across the country.
In July 2026, Tait Systems NZ appointed telecommunications veteran Steve Bush as CEO to oversee delivery through 2026 and 2027, bringing experience from a comparable large-scale critical communications build in New South Wales. That leadership change reflects how significant this build has become for Tait as a company, this isn't a side project, it's one of New Zealand's largest current public safety infrastructure investments.
Where the Rollout Actually Stands
As of early 2026, Tait Systems NZ had acquired more than half of the required 500 radio network sites, with 93 built and ready for testing and a further 72 under construction. The network isn't live yet. NGCC (now SafetyNet) and Tait Systems NZ have been running an extensive testing programme on a full-scale network environment in Canterbury, with that region expected to be the first to go live, with the remaining regions following progressively through 2026 and 2027.
That's a deliberately cautious pace for a good reason. This is the network emergency responders will depend on when the pressure is highest, so getting the transition right matters more than getting it done fast.
What This Means Beyond Emergency Services
Mobile Systems Limited isn't part of the PSN build itself, that's a national infrastructure project delivered directly by Tait Systems NZ and SafetyNet. But we've been Tait's Bay of Plenty dealer for over 25 years, and a project of this scale says something real about the manufacturer behind the commercial and industrial radios we supply every day.
SafetyNet's commercial expansion is also worth watching if your organisation works in civil defence, search and rescue, or utility response, since it signals more public safety-grade communications infrastructure becoming available to organisations beyond the original four emergency services.
