This is critical because even though the company, TeliaSonera, launched the network for commercial purposes, U.S. public safety agencies support LTE technology for a proposed nationwide public safety network on the 700 MHz radio band.
Such a network would give emergency responders access to advanced communications technologies and massive data files (video, mapping and GPS applications, etc.) at faster speeds from anywhere in the country.
"The best analogy would be to think an individual who roams from area to area on a cell phone," said Bryan Sivak, chief technology officer for the District of Columbia. "You obviously want uninterrupted coverage. If there's a national disaster that requires assistance from everywhere around the country like 9/11 or Katrina, we need to have something nationwide that allows all of these pieces of equipment to work regardless of where that person happens to be."
In the next few years, as wireless carriers begin rolling out 4G networks in the United States, these public safety and telecommunications agencies have an opportunity to take advantage of the large-scale manufacturing efforts, in which they could affect standards and also save money.
Recently the District of Columbia's Office of the Chief Technology Officer (OCTO) announced plans to partner in the federally funded Public Safety Communications Research program. Announced in December by the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, the program will evaluate the future of wireless communications for public safety agencies, develop public safety requirements and test interoperability of multiple systems.
Go to Government Technology to learn about how Washington, D.C., plans to partner with the Public Safety Communications Research program.
[Photo courtesy of Bill Koplitz/FEMA.]
