https://urgentcomm.com/wp-content/themes/ucm_child/assets/images/logo/footer-new-logo.png
  • Home
  • News
  • Multimedia
    • Back
    • Multimedia
    • Video
    • Podcasts
    • Galleries
  • Commentary
    • Back
    • Commentary
    • Urgent Matters
    • View From The Top
    • All Things IWCE
    • Legal Matters
  • Resources
    • Back
    • Resources
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
    • Reprints & Reuse
  • IWCE
    • Back
    • IWCE
    • Conference
    • Special Events
    • Exhibitor Listings
    • Premier Partners
    • Floor Plan
    • Exhibiting Information
    • Register for IWCE
  • About Us
    • Back
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
    • Terms of Service
    • Privacy Statement
    • Cookies Policy
  • Related Sites
    • Back
    • American City & County
    • IWCE
    • Light Reading
    • IOT World Today
    • Mission Critical Technologies
    • Microwave/RF
    • T&D World
    • TU-Auto
  • In the field
    • Back
    • In the field
    • Broadband Push-to-X
    • Internet of Things
    • Project 25
    • Public-Safety Broadband/FirstNet
    • Virtual/Augmented Reality
    • Land Mobile Radio
    • Long Term Evolution (LTE)
    • Applications
    • Drones/Robots
    • IoT/Smart X
    • Software
    • Subscriber Devices
    • Video
  • Call Center/Command
    • Back
    • Call Center/Command
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • NG911
    • Alerting Systems
    • Analytics
    • Dispatch/Call-taking
    • Incident Command/Situational Awareness
    • Tracking, Monitoring & Control
  • Network Tech
    • Back
    • Network Tech
    • Interoperability
    • LMR 100
    • LMR 200
    • Backhaul
    • Deployables
    • Power
    • Tower & Site
    • Wireless Networks
    • Coverage/Interference
    • Security
    • System Design
    • System Installation
    • System Operation
    • Test & Measurement
  • Operations
    • Back
    • Operations
    • Critical Infrastructure
    • Enterprise
    • Federal Government/Military
    • Public Safety
    • State & Local Government
    • Training
  • Regulations
    • Back
    • Regulations
    • Narrowbanding
    • T-Band
    • Rebanding
    • TV White Spaces
    • None
    • Funding
    • Policy
    • Regional Coordination
    • Standards
  • Organizations
    • Back
    • Organizations
    • AASHTO
    • APCO
    • DHS
    • DMR Association
    • ETA
    • EWA
    • FCC
    • IWCE
    • NASEMSO
    • NATE
    • NXDN Forum
    • NENA
    • NIST/PSCR
    • NPSTC
    • NTIA/FirstNet
    • P25 TIG
    • TETRA + CCA
    • UTC
Urgent Communications
  • NEWSLETTER
  • Home
  • News
  • Multimedia
    • Back
    • Video
    • Podcasts
    • Omdia Crit Comms Circle Podcast
    • Galleries
    • IWCE’s Video Showcase
  • Commentary
    • Back
    • All Things IWCE
    • Urgent Matters
    • View From The Top
    • Legal Matters
  • Resources
    • Back
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
    • Reprints & Reuse
    • UC eZines
    • Sponsored content
  • IWCE
    • Back
    • Conference
    • Why Attend
    • Exhibitor Listing
    • Floor Plan
    • Exhibiting Information
    • Join the Event Mailing List
  • About Us
    • Back
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
    • Terms of Service
    • Privacy Statement
    • Cookies Policy
  • Related Sites
    • Back
    • American City & County
    • IWCE
    • Light Reading
    • IOT World Today
    • TU-Auto
  • newsletter
  • In the field
    • Back
    • Internet of Things
    • Broadband Push-to-X
    • Project 25
    • Public-Safety Broadband/FirstNet
    • Virtual/Augmented Reality
    • Land Mobile Radio
    • Long Term Evolution (LTE)
    • Applications
    • Drones/Robots
    • IoT/Smart X
    • Software
    • Subscriber Devices
    • Video
  • Call Center/Command
    • Back
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • NG911
    • Alerting Systems
    • Analytics
    • Dispatch/Call-taking
    • Incident Command/Situational Awareness
    • Tracking, Monitoring & Control
  • Network Tech
    • Back
    • Cybersecurity
    • Interoperability
    • LMR 100
    • LMR 200
    • Backhaul
    • Deployables
    • Power
    • Tower & Site
    • Wireless Networks
    • Coverage/Interference
    • Security
    • System Design
    • System Installation
    • System Operation
    • Test & Measurement
  • Operations
    • Back
    • Critical Infrastructure
    • Enterprise
    • Federal Government/Military
    • Public Safety
    • State & Local Government
    • Training
  • Regulations
    • Back
    • Narrowbanding
    • T-Band
    • Rebanding
    • TV White Spaces
    • None
    • Funding
    • Policy
    • Regional Coordination
    • Standards
  • Organizations
    • Back
    • AASHTO
    • APCO
    • DHS
    • DMR Association
    • ETA
    • EWA
    • FCC
    • IWCE
    • NASEMSO
    • NATE
    • NXDN Forum
    • NENA
    • NIST/PSCR
    • NPSTC
    • NTIA/FirstNet
    • P25 TIG
    • TETRA + CCA
    • UTC
acc.com

Broadband Push-to-X


News

FirstNet MCPTT launch delayed until first quarter of 2020, AT&T says

FirstNet MCPTT launch delayed until first quarter of 2020, AT&T says

  • Written by Donny Jackson
  • 4th December 2019

Public-safety users will have to wait until the first quarter of next year to experience push-to-talk service compliant with the mission-critical-push-to-talk (MCPTT) standard on the FirstNet system, according to AT&T, the contractor tasked with building and maintaining the nationwide public-safety broadband network (NPSBN).

AT&T yesterday provided the push-to-talk update as part of a press release highlighting progress of the FirstNet buildout on Band 14 spectrum and the availability the FirstNet One blimp that is designed to provide extended deployable LTE coverage.

“We also plan to launch FirstNet Push-to-Talk in early 2020,” according to the press release. “This is a standards-compliant, mission-centric solution that’s being purpose-built for public safety. It’s designed to further advance first responders’ communication capabilities with reliable, high-performance calling.”

In response to questions from IWCE’s Urgent Communications, an AT&T spokesperson clarified that FirstNet Push-to-Talk service is now slated to be available during the first quarter of next year.

“We expect to launch it broadly in the first quarter,” according to the AT&T spokesperson.

AT&T’s press release did not specify with which standard that the FirstNet Push-to-Talk service would comply, but the AT&T spokesperson confirmed that it would comply with the MCPTT standard established by 3GPP, the LTE standards body.

“It’s very important to us that the solutions are standards-compliant at launch,” according to the AT&T spokesperson’s statement provided to IWCE’s Urgent Communications. “We will be rolling out a core set of MCPTT-standards compliant features at launch and continuing to enhance and augment them over time.”

At one point, AT&T officials expressed hope that MCPTT service would be available to FirstNet users by the end of 2018, but last year the company decided to delay the MCPTT launch date until the second half of 2019—a timeline cited repeatedly by company officials throughout this year.

The AT&T spokesperson provided the following explanation for delaying the MCPTT rollout until early 2020:

“We were initially targeting a late 2019 launch, but since we are building this solution from the ground up, we felt it was important to take a little more time to make sure we delivered an excellent end-to-end experience for public safety at launch, pulling in feedback from users in the controlled introduction,” according to a statement provided to IWCE’s Urgent Communications. “We are still tracking ahead of our contractual commitments for the launch of this solution.”

Public-safety sources interviewed by IWCE’s Urgent Communications expressed some disappointment that AT&T is not introducing MCPTT this year as planned, but those sources were more emphatic in asserting that it would be a mistake for AT&T to unveil an MCPTT offering that is not ready for first-responder scrutiny.

“AT&T is only going to get one chance to make a first impression on this [MCPTT], so they need to get it right,” according to one public-safety representative, who requested anonymity.

AT&T has offered Enhanced PTT service using carrier-integrated PTT technology from Kodiak—now owned by Motorola Solutions—since AT&T was named as the nationwide FirstNet contractor in March 2017. However, the Enhanced PTT offering does not comply with the MCPTT standard that was completed as part of LTE Release 13 in 2016.

Although the MCPTT standard has “mission-critical” in its name, officials for both the FirstNet Authority and AT&T repeatedly have stated that the FirstNet MCPTT offering will be a mission-critical service only when public-safety officials deem it worthy for mission-critical duties. FirstNet representatives have stated publicly that they believe land-mobile-radio (LMR) systems will continue to be used for years.

Despite such statements, many local and state government officials have been anticipating MCPTT, so they can evaluate the service’s capabilities and associated costs. In the near term, many view MCPTT as a complement to LMR. Whether MCPTT eventually could be an alternative to LMR continues to be a subject of considerable debate, particularly as an increasing number of first-responder officials question whether governments will be willing to pay for two communications networks for public safety in the long term.

In creating the MCPTT standard, 3GPP participants attempted to mimic the most stringent performance standards for public-safety LMR systems, according to multiple industry sources. When a user has access to an LTE network, most experts believe MCPTT should perform well and likely will provide noticeably better voice quality, thanks to additional spectral resources and the ability to use better codecs than LMR.

But public-safety officials have significant concerns about using MCPTT when network connectivity is not available. When an LMR network is not available, LMR supports direct-mode communications with devices that use 3 watts to 5 watts to transmit signals over considerable range.

A fully compliant MCPTT offering includes a direct-mode technology—known as proximity services, or ProSe—but it is unproven, with only Samsung claiming to have a working chipset. Even if ProSe works, there are serious questions about its utility for public safety, because the low 0.25-watt power level of most LTE devices mean that the signal range from an LTE device using ProSe would pale in comparison to LMR.

 

Tags: homepage-featured-4 Applications Broadband Push-to-X Critical Infrastructure Federal Government/Military Long Term Evolution (LTE) News NTIA/FirstNet Public Safety Public-Safety Broadband/FirstNet Standards State & Local Government Subscriber Devices News

Most Recent


  • Intelsat, OneWeb team on in-flight connectivity
    UK-government backed OneWeb and US-based Intelsat are joining forces to offer in-flight connectivity services to airlines, combining the former’s low-Earth-orbit (LEO) satellite service with the latter’s geostationary (GEO) satellites to “harness the power of multi-orbit capabilities.” The companies said they expect the multi-orbit solution to be in service by 2024. Inflight connectivity is certainly an […]
  • Black Hat 2022: Adapting to the growing cyberthreat landscape
    The nation’s first cybersecurity chief is warning that the growing threat landscape will get worse as society and businesses become more digitized. At the Black Hat USA 2022 conference, Chris Krebs, the first director of the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, said he spent the last 18 months gathering information. He spoke to people […]
  • Diffusing the connected car's ticking data-privacy timebomb
    Connected and autonomous vehicles (CAVs) collate a significant amount of data to ensure vehicle safety, requiring an always-on internet connection and hundreds of sensors. An entire industry has been developed around monitoring, logging, analyzing and monetizing it. Yet, the danger is, particularly with increasing cyber-attacks, that this data could end up being leaked and stolen. […]
  • Patch madness: Vendor bug advisories are broken, so broken
    BLACK HAT USA – Las Vegas – Keeping up with security-vulnerability patching is challenging at best, but prioritizing which bugs to focus on has become more difficult than ever before, thanks to context-lacking CVSS scores, muddy vendor advisories, and incomplete fixes that leave admins with a false sense of security. That’s the argument that Brian […]

Leave a comment Cancel reply

To leave a comment login with your Urgent Comms account:

Log in with your Urgent Comms account

Or alternatively provide your name, email address below:

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Content

  • UK officials revamp ESN plans again, target Airwave-to-LTE transition for end of 2026
  • Motorola Solutions CEO anticipates extension of Airwave contract in UK by end of year
  • Lynk files with FCC, plans to offer LEO satellite-to-phone service next year
  • Verizon
    Verizon seeks interoperability with proposed Florida SLERS system, FirstNet

Commentary


LTE and liability: Why the fire service must move forward with digital incident command

  • 2
6th May 2022

Partnership and collaboration must be the foundation for emergency communications

18th April 2022

FirstNet success means no hypothetical ‘shots’ need to be fired, Swenson says

22nd February 2022
view all

Events


UC Ezines


IWCE 2019 Wrap Up

13th May 2019
view all

Twitter


UrgentComm

Intelsat, OneWeb team on in-flight connectivity dlvr.it/SWgYb2

15th August 2022
UrgentComm

Black Hat 2022: Adapting to the growing cyberthreat landscape dlvr.it/SWgF3Y

15th August 2022
UrgentComm

Diffusing the connected car’s ticking data-privacy timebomb dlvr.it/SWdCw2

14th August 2022
UrgentComm

Patch madness: Vendor bug advisories are broken, so broken dlvr.it/SWcvFR

14th August 2022
UrgentComm

What the 6 GHz band might mean to fixed-wireless access dlvr.it/SWctfk

14th August 2022
UrgentComm

FirstNet PTT technical progress highlighted by AT&T at APCO 2022 dlvr.it/SWZtNJ

13th August 2022
UrgentComm

Newscan: D.C. appeals court upholds FCC decision to share 5.9 GHz V2V spectrum with Wi-Fi dlvr.it/SWZQpx

13th August 2022
UrgentComm

Cisco confirms data breach, hacked files leaked dlvr.it/SWV8l9

12th August 2022

Newsletter

Sign up for UrgentComm’s newsletters to receive regular news and information updates about Communications and Technology.

Expert Commentary

Learn from experts about the latest technology in automation, machine-learning, big data and cybersecurity.

Business Media

Find the latest videos and media from the market leaders.

Media Kit and Advertising

Want to reach our digital and print audiences? Learn more here.

DISCOVER MORE FROM INFORMA TECH

  • American City & County
  • IWCE
  • Light Reading
  • IOT World Today
  • Mission Critical Technologies
  • TU-Auto

WORKING WITH US

  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Events
  • Careers

FOLLOW Urgent Comms ON SOCIAL

  • Privacy
  • CCPA: “Do Not Sell My Data”
  • Cookies Policy
  • Terms
Copyright © 2022 Informa PLC. Informa PLC is registered in England and Wales with company number 8860726 whose registered and Head office is 5 Howick Place, London, SW1P 1WG.
This website uses cookies, including third party ones, to allow for analysis of how people use our website in order to improve your experience and our services. By continuing to use our website, you agree to the use of such cookies. Click here for more information on our Cookie Policy and Privacy Policy.
X