Marilyn Ward, executive director of the National Public Safety Telecommunications Council (NPSTC), shares her views on public-safety issues in this exclusive interview.

Airbus announced it will enroll the Tactilon Dabat, its hybrid TETRA radio and smartphone, for certification on the German Federal Agency for Public Safety Digital Radio (BDBOS) network.

TETRA public-safety networks Nödnett in Norway and Virve in Finland are now connected, said Jarmo Vinkvist, CEO at Suomen Virveverkko, which operates the Virve network.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) concluded that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has limited responsibility for sending and canceling state and local alerts.

The U.K. Emergency Service Network (ESN) started testing its Long Term Evolution (LTE) public-safety network with the first ESN product, ESN Assure, across England and Wales, according to a LinkedIn post.

The European Emergency Number Association (EENA) created a network designed for emergency services using drones in their day-to-day operations or are interested in doing so. The Emergency Services & Drones network is a platform for first responders to share experiences and best practices with their peers, as well as stay up to date with the latest developments.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture awarded $91 million in telecommunications programs in 12 states and 19 projects to boost rural broadband. At least two of the awards have public-safety communications aspects.

A market research firm said the global market for licensed mobile radio infrastructure and system integration increased 14 percent, reaching $4.6 billion in 2017. Significant growth was noted in Asia, as revenues increased by 26 percent. However, Europe also experienced 8 percent growth in infrastructure and system integration revenue.

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) marked the end of the State and Local Implementation Grant Program (SLIGP), saying the grant program helped lay the groundwork for First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) success.

Motorola Solutions will demonstrate its push-to-talk (PTT) services to Australian public-safety agencies and businesses at Comms Connect Melbourne this week. Specifically, the company is demonstrating technology based on the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Release 13 standard mission-critical push to talk (MCPTT).