Hytera America and Hytera America (West) filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy May 26, citing ongoing lawsuits brought by Motorola Solutions and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. In a statement, the company said that it plans to use the Chapter 11 restructuring process to address the issues caused by those two events.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) Director Christopher Krebs sent a letter to the nation’s governors encouraging them to provide necessary access and resources to the communications workers helping to keep Americans connected during the COVID-19 pandemic.

New market research from SNS Telecom & IT estimates that annual investments in public-safety LTE/5G-ready infrastructure will reach $2 billion by the end of 2020. The number includes dedicated, hybrid commercial-private and secure mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) networks.

SAFECOM released a 2020 strategic plan that outlines 38 priorities that the public-safety communications support organization plans to accomplish this year. The priorities fall under seven committees and task forces that address issues from governance to technology policy to the Project 25 (P25) Compliance Assessment Program (CAP).

Motorola Solutions and Hytera Communications proposed a briefing schedule for Motorola’s theft of trade secrets lawsuit against Hytera that would push the post-trial effort to August.

The European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) will host its Fifth Mission Critical Services (MCX) Plugtests event remotely from 21 September to 2 October. The event was originally planned to be a face-to-face event in India but was changed to remote testing because of the COVID-19 pandemic, ETSI Project Manager Saurav Arora said during a webinar sponsored by ETSI and TCCA.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency released the Rural Emergency Medical Communications Demonstration Project (REMCDP) notice of funding opportunity (NOFO). This opportunity will fund demonstration projects that address the national emergency communications plan (NECP) and examine communications barriers and identify solutions that enhance existing emergency communications infrastructure.

Verizon Business announced a new Public Safety Applications Portal to help public-safety professionals complete their missions and support industry standards for interoperability. The portal supports applications already in use by public-safety agencies, as well as future applications via Windows, browsers and web apps, in addition to Android and iOS platforms.

As promised before its merger with Sprint was finalized, T-Mobile launched its Connecting Heroes plan, a 10-year commitment to provide free service and 5G access to first responder agencies. The offer is valid for all public and non-profit state and local fire, police and EMS departments, the carrier said.

The First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) launched in the three Pacific territories — American Samoa, Guam and the commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. FirstNet is adding three on-island portable cell sites, one per territory, to its FirstNet fleet of dedicated deployable network assets to support public-safety agencies in the territories in time for typhoon season.