State Settles Radio Contract Lawsuit

After three years of legal action, the state of New York has agreed to pay back $25 million to Tyco Electronics Corp., part of $50 million the state recovered after canceling the company’s contract for a state-wide public safety radio network. The $2 billion radio network was based on new technology, which the company claimed would provide adequate coverage. However, after many delays, few implementations and complaints of poor coverage, the state decided to end the contract. Upon cancellation in 2009, the state took $50 million from a line of credit posted by M/A-COM as part of its contract agreement. M/A-COM was later purchased by Tyco, who sued the state over the amount of money that it owed the state. In court documents filed this week, the state agreed to a partial refund. Download (pdf) an earlier Court of Claims document that describes the lawsuit.