South Korea has outlined a three-step approach for nationwide deployment of its public-safety Long Term Evolution (LTE) network with the first service planned for 2018 in two cities and provinces. A second pilot project is also underway in the areas of the 2018 Winter Olympics and will run through March 2018.

Motorola Solutions said it will combine the best of Vertex Standard's portfolio with its two-way radio product lines beginning Jan. 1, and all products will carry the Motorola Solutions brand.

The House emergency preparedness, response and communications subcommittee held a hearing titled “Assessing First Responder Communications” that touched on topics from the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) to T-band spectrum to the reduction in the number of statewide interoperability coordinators (SWICs).

Recently, there has been some debate on the meaning and definition of “public safety grade.” The recent hurricanes underscore the need for clarity on what it means and what public safety needs with regard to reliable data. A National Public Safety Telecommunications Council (NPSTC) document published in 2014 provided a definition that the overall system design enables system and service to achieve 99.999 percent availability.

The high winds of Hurricane Irma posed a challenge for first responders and 9-1-1 dispatchers in communities across Florida. In both Collier and Pinellas counties, emergency officials had to pull first responders off the roads for a period because of wind speeds that exceeded 140 miles per hour and made it too dangerous to be out.

Dan Robinson, acting supervisor for field support services for Michigan’s Public Safety Communications System (MPSCS), offers the latest updates on the Programming and Management (PAM) Tool, which helps with the increasingly complicated job of programming two-way radios.

The TCCA is under new leadership and looking toward new initiatives including a mission-critical push-to-talk (MCPTT) open platform and market adoption of of Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) standardized equipment.

Other than a few sites that flooded because of unprecedented water levels, the Harris County, Texas, LMR and Long Term Evolution (LTE) networks withstood Hurricane Harvey and its aftermath, which included more than 50 inches of rain, county officials said.

The First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) rejected a request for records from an attorney who specializes in Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, saying the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act exempts FirstNet from FOIA requirements.

After an extended deliberative process and pursuant to issuing a request for proposals (RFP), the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) selected AT&T as its partner to build, operate and maintain the nationwide public-safety broadband network (NPSBN). The actual terms of the agreement between FirstNet and AT&T remain unavailable to the public for proprietary reasons. However, what has been revealed in public statements and in trade press reports may raise questions about whether the AT&T proposal accepted by FirstNet tracks the vision Congress had when it created FirstNet.