News AT&T names Scott Agnew to head FirstNet team; Jim Bugel set to retire next week 27th August 2024 AT&T today announced industry veteran Scott Agnew as the new president of its FirstNet unit, succeeding Jim Bugel, who will retire after serving more than three decades for the telecom carrier. “As America’s Public Safety Network, FirstNet is leading the way for first responder communications,” Agnew said in a prepared statement. “I am proud to […]
News FirstNet Authority board approves $2 billion in coverage enhancements to key areas 22nd August 2024 FirstNet Authority board members yesterday voted unanimously to approve plans to enhance the wireless coverage provided by FirstNet with an investment of about $2 billion during the next decade to bolster the system’s terrestrial footprint, with a focus on tribal, terrestrial and rural locations. “With the board’s actions today, the Authority will continue during our […]
Audio Martin County School District: Frank Frangella cites ADRF role in school-safety strategy 22nd August 2024 Frank Frangella, chief of safety and security for the Martin County (Fla.) School District, explains how the distributed antenna systems (DAS) from ADRF provide connectivity for public safety and school personnel throughout district campuses, so effective in-building communications can be supported during times of emergency. Already installed at two schools in the district, the […]
News AdventHealth Central Florida migrates voice to FirstNet Rapid Response, prepares to retire LMR system 21st August 2024 AdventHealth Central Florida has migrated its mission-critical voice communications to FirstNet Rapid Response at more than a dozen hospital campuses in a three-county area as the organization prepares to retire its legacy land-mobile-radio (LMR) system by the end of the year. Robert Francisco, security operations manager for AdventHealth Central Florida, said the decision for the […]
Partner content AT&T, Verizon challenge SpaceX, T-Mobile’s direct-to-cell service 19th August 2024 AT&T and Verizon have a bone to pick with SpaceX and T-Mobile’s direct-to-cellular service. Verizon and AT&T have expressed concern that the direct-to-cell service could negatively impact their own mobile broadband networks, reported The Verge. SpaceX plans to launch a direct-to-cell service with T-Mobile commercially in the US this fall, reported Light Reading’s Mike Dano in May. The […]
News ‘Rip and Replace’ funding bills introduced in House and Senate, without NG911 language 16th August 2024 Senate legislation designed to address the funding shortfall in an FCC program designed to rid U.S. carrier networks of China-made equipment recently received a companion bill in the House, but both proposals fail to mention any funding for next-generation 911 (NG911) deployments. Rep. August Pfluger (R-Texas) introduced the House version of the bill (H.R. 9340), […]
Partner content Samsung unveils ultra-slim chips for faster AI on mobile devices 13th August 2024 Samsung has kicked off mass production of its LPDDR5X DRAM semiconductors, tiny chips as thin as a fingernail to improve how mobile devices run AI workloads. They are the industry’s thinnest 12 nanometer (nm)-class memory chips and come in two sizes: 12GB and 16GB. The chips are designed to process memory workloads directly on the […]
News Georgia State Patrol turns to Southern Linc LTE system for mission-critical voice comms 9th August 2024 Georgia State Patrol is using a mission-critical-push-to-talk (MCPTT) service from Southern Linc for its primary voice communications, supplanting the state-owned VHF system during the past 18 months, according to an official with the agency. Captain Brian Screws (pictured above, in center), chief information officer for the Georgia State Patrol, said the statewide public-safety agency has […]
Partner content Crisis-hit European telecom sector needs a reboot 8th August 2024 During the summer months, when Europeans work on their global reputation for laziness and unproductivity, the bosses of the continent’s big telecom companies retreat to the Amalfi coast or the south of France or perhaps to some opulent, solar-powered log cabin in Scandinavia, where they keep a lidded eye on emails between energetic bouts of […]
News Motorola Solutions application pushes CAD information to first responders in field 6th August 2024 Motorola Solutions yesterday announced SmartIncident, a new application that leverages broadband connectivity in an APX NEXT or APX N70 portable radio to receive multimedia incident information from computer-aided dispatch (CAD) to inform efficient responses by personnel in the field. Michael Labowicz, director of product management for Motorola Solutions, said SmartIncident was developed to address an […]
Latest 3GPP standards-development work includes new classes of HPUE, progress on mission-critical services 1 22nd April 2024
Is LMR the best solution for first responders? Should 4.9 GHz license go to the FirstNet Authority? 3 24th March 2024
Video Check out key takeaways from Disaster Management Symposium webinars, register to view archives Video: Opening of the Expo Hall on day three of IWCE 2023 Lynk CEO Charles Miller: The sky’s the limit
