O2 in £2bn talks with Aussies over secure network sale

Airwave is the network used by the UK's emergency services. It is, says the outfit's website, “part of Her Majesty's Government Critical National Infrastructure and is designed to stay working even during major incidents (like 9/11) when conventional mobile and fixed telephony networks may overload and fail.” The network uses a “unique” screening technology to freeze out background noise and handsets handle both data and voice.

But if you've come calling for a ‘UK sells off more family jewels' story, you're too late of course as one-time BT property O2 has been in the hands of Spanish telecoms behemoth Telefonica since 2005. That may in part be a reason for Airwave's attractiveness to Macquarie. As the Airwave site notes, “having been acquired by Telefónica, we are now in an unrivalled position to help customers outside the UK achieve their objectives”. In other words, something like the UK system could be replicated abroad. µ

TRIVIA
Foreign readers might like to know that The Times and The Australian are both properties of News Corp., which is led by another Aussie, Rupert Murdoch. An Australian construction company also built Wembley, the recently opened English national football stadium, but only after significant cost and time overruns. Australia and the UK enjoy a keen rivalry in many matters and Austalians sometimes refer to the British as Poms in the same ways Americans refer to Brits as Limeys. England plays Australia in the cricket world cup tomorrow.