4. LA-RICS public-safety LTE project in peril after LA City Council votes to stop construction
Los Angeles City Council members unanimously voted in the Spring to halt construction of Los Angeles Regional Interoperable Communications System (LA-RICS) public-safety LTE cell sites in the city—a move that could have undermined the largest first-responder broadband project in the country, according to several sources.
With the 12-0 vote, the Los Angeles City Council ordered that “construction of the LTE system at city of Los Angeles fire stations and police stations not commence, or immediately cease, if started.” This represents the second major entity to halt LTE construction, after the Los Angeles County board of supervisors stopped construction at most of its fire stations and many other sites for a period of at least two weeks.
In the wake of the City Council vote, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) suspended the LA-RICS public-safety LTE project for several weeks. Later in the year, a scaled-down version of the planned network was built, but the Los Angeles City Council voted in the fall to pull out of LA-RICS.
Los Angeles City Council members unanimously voted in the Spring to halt construction of Los Angeles Regional Interoperable Communications System (LA-RICS) public-safety LTE cell sites in the city—a move that could have undermined the largest first-responder broadband project in the country, according to several sources.
With the 12-0 vote, the Los Angeles City Council ordered that “construction of the LTE system at city of Los Angeles fire stations and police stations not commence, or immediately cease, if started.” This represents the second major entity to halt LTE construction, after the Los Angeles County board of supervisors stopped construction at most of its fire stations and many other sites for a period of at least two weeks.
In the wake of the City Council vote, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) suspended the LA-RICS public-safety LTE project for several weeks. Later in the year, a scaled-down version of the planned network was built, but the Los Angeles City Council voted in the fall to pull out of LA-RICS.