The National Public Safety Telecommunications Council (NPSTC) published a document intended for distribution to federal, state and local elected officials. The document explains the issues facing public safety and use of cell phones for public-safety communications.
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The document states clearly and in plain language why public-safety LMR voice systems must be maintained even though the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) is beginning to build a nationwide public-safety broadband network (NPSBN).
Some elected officials and other industry officials have asked why LMR systems must be maintained because they assume the broadband network will replace all narrowband voice networks. Mission-critical voice over Long Term Evolution (LTE) likely won’t be available for many years, according to public-safety experts.
The Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) International broadband committee prepared the document and sent it to NPSTC for final revisions and publication.
“Please make sure you provide this document to any and all elected officials you may come in contact with as well as others within the public-safety community who may not understand that the NPSBN is focused on providing for the addition of data and video services to public safety and not replacing existing LMR networks,” said Andrew Seybold, vice chair of the APCO broadband committee.
The document is posted at the NPSTC website.
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