Monitoring and Alarm Receiving Centres (MARCs) depend on permanent connectivity to receive alarms, verify incidents and coordinate responses with security officers, public authorities or emergency services. These services protect critical infrastructure, businesses, households and public spaces. If legacy networks are switched off before affected alarm systems are safely migrated, alarm signals may no longer reach MARCs, creating avoidable gaps in protection and a clear public security risk.

During the stakeholder exchange in EU Parliament, Alexander Frank, Deputy Director General at CoESS, underlined that network migration is not a simple software update for private security providers: it requires identifying affected systems, procuring and testing new communication modules, organising on-site replacements, and validating that alarms continue to be transmitted without interruption. Across large installed bases, such migrations are multi-year processes that require predictability and structured cooperation between network providers, public authorities, security technology providers and end-users. CoESS’ message is clear: Europe should not have to choose between digital competitiveness and public security - with the right transition framework, it can have both. The Parliament report on the European Commission proposal is expected after the summer break.

CoESS full position paper can be found here.