According to a report in the Kathimerini daily, ten months before the Athens 2004 Summer Olympic Games, the communications system that is the backbone of the 600-million-euro Olympic security, “is still up in the air”.
An unnamed source close to the talks between Greece and a U.S.-led consortium installing the hardware for the Games’ security said, “not a single nail has been hammered in the wireless Tetra System project”.
Kathimerini obtained information that there are differences among the U.S.-led consortium about replacing the provider of the Terrestrial Trunked Radio (TETRA) wireless communications system. And there are also differences between the consortium and the Greek government over the latter’s demand for a hefty discount for the TETRA system.
The newspaper reports that these delays and the consequent effect they will have in training security personnel are putting security for the 2004 Games in jeopardy.
Sources told Kathimerini that “the government is wringing its hands” over the dispute.
