The FCC granted two additional years for substantial service showings for renewal of four geographic Automated Maritime Telecommunications System (AMTS) licenses held by Maritime Communications/Land Mobile (MCLM). The licenses have been tied up in legal proceedings since 2011.

The FCC granted a waiver filed by the state of Michigan Department of Telecommunications Management and Budget to share use of the Michigan Public Safety Communications System (MPSCS), its statewide 800 MHz radio network, with DTE Energy.

The TCCA has revamped its former Control Rooms Working Group as the International Critical Control Rooms Alliance (ICCRA), headed by Peter Prater, key account manager with Frequentis. ICCRA’s goal is to become the focus and platform for critical service control room discussion, learning and best practice development.

As we all know, coverage is imperative for mission-critical communications. If you don’t have a signal, you can’t communicate. Our new e-book covers all the essential pieces to ensure strong LMR and broadband coverage.

ComEd organized Operation Power Play 2017, a statewide drill May 18 and 19 in coordination with Ameren Illinois; the city of Chicago’s Office of Emergency Management and Communications (OEMC); the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC); Peoples Gas; the Illinois Emergency Management Agency; Will, Cook and DuPage County Departments of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, the United States Army Reserve; and more than 50 other state, county, municipal, public and private entities.

AT&T completed deployment of its nationwide Long Term Evolution (LTE)-M network ahead of schedule. The network will enable a new generation of internet of things (IoT) devices and applications, the carrier said.

The Land Mobile Communications Council (LMCC) and The Monitoring Association (TMA) jointly submitted suggested revisions to FCC rules governing access to central station alarm frequencies, as well as related coordination protocols. The revisions and protocols were submitted in response to an FCC effort to enhance access to these designated channels.

Airbus launched the U.S. base and operations of a new commercial drone start-up, named Airbus Aerial.

The Société de transport de Montréal (STM) selected the S.M. Group International (SMi), Télécommunications Grimard and PowerTrunk, part of the Sepura Group, to supply and install a new, state of the art TETRA radio and voice recording system for its subway operations across its network. SMi and Grimard will provide the installation and system integration services, while PowerTrunk will supply the TETRA network infrastructure and radio dispatch solution.

Motorola Solutions provided a system upgrade for the Shanghai aviation hub, one of the world’s top 10 aviation hubs in 2016. The system upgrade included a software maintenance service contract for a major TETRA communications solution.