Public Safety Grade AT&T recently stated at a congressional hearing that there was no “real” definition for the term, “Public Safety Grade.” The public safety community responded with disbelief, led by the National Public Safety Telecommunications Council (NPSTC) which had published a paper addressing all of the issues needed to qualify as a Public Safety Grade Network. The document, “Defining Public Safety Grade Systems and Facilities,” was published in May of 2014 after much work by many people. Starting on page 108 of the document is a list of individuals and organizations that contributed to this report and the list is three pages long.

In all fairness to AT&T, at last week’s NPTSC meeting in Washington, DC, the AT&T senior vice president in charge of FirstNet stood up and apologized to NPSTC for his comments and then spoke about how AT&T is moving toward public safety grade status. His apology and comments were well received by NPSTC and the clarification was timely and well-articulated.

What he did not say and what I hope to show in this week’s Advocate is that there are differences between public safety grade for Land Mobile Radio (LMR) sites and an LTE network. It is important for LMR communications professionals to understand these differences and not hold AT&T to public safety grade for every cell site in the network. The methodology for hardening an LTE network is different but effective and it is these differences that need to be understood.

Hurricane Irma Affects 28 PSAPs Across Florida, U.S. Virgin Islands – MissionCritical Sep 12 10:03 Hurricane Irma had affected 28 public-safety answering points, including taking 14 down completely, across Florida and the U.S. Virgin Islands as of Sept. 11, according to a communications status report released by the FCC. Meanwhile, just under 30 percent of cell sites were out of service in the Florida disaster area and more than 50 percent of cell sites were out across the U.S. Virgin Islands. read more

Senators Blast The FCC For Weakening The Definition Of Broadband To Try And Hide The Industry’s Lack Of Real Competition – Techdirt Corporate Intelligence Sep  8 15:05 Back in 2015, the FCC raised the standard definition of broadband from 4 Mbps down, 1 Mbps up, to an arguably-more-modern 25 Mbps down, 3 Mbps up. Of course the uncompetitive broadband industry (and the lawmakers who adore them) subsequently threw a collective hissy fit about the change, because they realized a higher bar would only highlight their failure to deliver next-generation broadband to vast swaths of America. And highlight it did: by this…

Vermont Releases RFP for Statewide LTE RAN – MissionCritical Sep  8 10:03 The Vermont Office of Purchasing & Contracting, on behalf of the Department of Public Safety (DPS), is soliciting proposals for an alternative solution to the nationwide offering of the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet). Proposals are sought from qualified firms to build, operate and maintain a statewide radio access network (RAN) to connect to and be fully interoperable with the nationwide public-safety broadband network (NPSBN). read more

FCC Imposes Narrowbanding Fine on Global Paratransit – MissionCritical Sep 13 10:03 The FCC imposed a penalty of $13,000 against Global Paratransit for failing to operate its private land mobile radio (PLMR) station, call sign WPPY512, on a narrowband basis in accordance with the commission’s narrowbanding rules, failing to transmit its call sign, and failing to respond to a commission notice of violation. read more

FirstNet Rejects FOIA Request for State Plan Information, AT and T Contracts – MissionCritical Sep 13 10:03 The First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) rejected a request for records from an attorney that specializes in Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, saying the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act exempts FirstNet from FOIA requirements. read more

FCC Extends Disaster Reporting System for Hurricane Irma to Georgia, Alabama – Multichannel News Sep 12 19:25 Meanwhile, the FCC’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau moved ahead to gather data from communications providers in the affected areas.

AT&T Fires Warning Shot Vs. Verizon On FirstNet Contract – Investor’s Business Daily Sep 12 11:35 AT&T (T) warned Tuesday that any states opting out of its FirstNet contract with the federal government must ensure that alternate public safety …

FirstNet state plans will include construction-grant figure, but NTIA review process likely to come later – Urgent Communications Sep 11 22:00 … not know how much NTIA grant funding a state or territory would have to help support the construction of the LTE radio access network (RAN) under …

AT and T Exec Backtracks on Public Safety Grade Comments – MissionCritical Sep  8 10:03 Chris Sambar, AT&T senior vice president, apologized for comments he made “that may have been misleading” regarding a definition of public safety grade for the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) nationwide public-safety broadband network. read more

Ed Davis: FirstNet crucial to Georgia’s public safety – Savannah Morning News Sep  8 03:30 The gap in communications between different public safety departments and agencies has continued to hamstring response efforts to large natural …

First responders preparing for Irma to arrive – Hendersonville Lightning Sep  8 00:10 By Bill Moss, Published: September 7, 2017. Although they acknowledge the hurricane path could change, Henderson County emergency managers …

20 States, Territories Accept FirstNet Public Safety Network Plan – 4 Traders Sep  7 22:45 AT&T has unveiled that a total of 20 U.S. states and territories have already opted into the First Responder Network Authoritys plan for a nationwide …

New Hampshire hopes to make ‘opt-in/opt-out’ recommendation to governor by early October – Urgent Communications Sep  7 17:35 … for the nationwide public-safety broadband network (NPSBN) to have a carrier partnersomething that vendors in opt-out states also would need.

A third of the country has signed on to AT&T’s network for first responders – MassHighTech Sep  7 17:00 Twenty states and territories have opted into AT&T’s plan to build a nationwide network for first responders through the FirstNet Authority, the company said this month. The contract for the network, which gives first responders a priority lane for communication during crises or other times of high traffic, was awarded to AT&T in March. Under the terms, the federally funded FirstNet Authority will pay $6.5 billion toward the buildout of the network. AT&T (NYSE: T) agrees to pay $40 billion to…

NTIA drafts best practices for patching IoT – Sep 13 22:24 … and Information Administration are just months away from finishing their guidance on upgrading and patching internet-of-things devices.

Apple Unveils iPhone X with Face ID, 3D Sensors, and More – NewsFactor Network Sep 13 15:10 Featuring an all-glass front and back and wrapped in a narrow band of stainless steel, the 5.8-inch iPhone X comes with Apple’s first-ever OLED …

Narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) Market Size, Status and Forecast 2017 to 2022 – News Bytes Sep 13 04:50 Global Narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) Market Research Report 2017 to 2022 presents an in-depth assessment of the Narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) including …

Sierra Wireless is Testing its NB-IoT Modules on T-Mobile’s Network – everything RF Sep 13 01:20 Sierra Wireless is now testing its next-generation Narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) modules, expected to be certified and available for T-Mobile’s Narrowband …

Sierra Wireless Announces Industry’s First LTE-Advanced Pro Embedded Modules Enabling the … – TelecomBiZZ Sep 13 00:10 The EM75 Series will enable public safety band 14 for FirstNet in the U.S. and bands 20 and 28 for public safety LTE networks in Europe. FirstNet’s …

FCC chairman outlines steps to encourage mobile broadband deployment – ZDNet Sep 12 21:00 From revised net neutrality rules to opening up more spectrum, Chairman Ajit Pai explains how he sees government greasing the wheels for the wireless industry.

T-Mobile unveils roadmap to nationwide Narrowband IoT in 2018 – Tech Investor News Sep 12 16:15 thefly.com provides the latest financial news as it breaks. Known as a leader in market intelligence, The Fly’s real-time, streaming news feed keeps …

Research Aims to Improve Communications during National Disasters without using the Internet – Electronics360 Sep 12 08:10 … and first responders can share and act on the information that is gathered from people impacted by hurricanes tornados, floods and other disasters.

5G will transform enterprises: Ericsson CTO – Hindu Business Line Sep  8 13:10 We are in a phase now where there is much focus on what we do on IoT access, what we do with narrow band IoT or CAT M. These are really …

FCC Opens Docket on 9-1-1 in Enterprises – MissionCritical Sep  8 10:03 The FCC’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau opened PS Docket No. 17-239, titled “Inquiry Concerning 9-1-1 Access, Routing, and Location in Enterprise Communications Systems.” read more

Verizon reinforces its commitment to supporting public safety at APCO Conference – Cellular News Sep  8 09:10 “The work you do is invaluable, not only to our public safety agencies and our brave first responders, but also to the communities they serve,” he said.

FCC asks about the state of mobile broadband. Congress flips out. – American Enterprise Institute Sep  8 07:15 Mobile broadband is at least a partial substitute for traditional fixed broadband, …

Digitimes Research: 79GHz to replace 24GHz for automotive millimeter radar sensors – Digitimes Sep  8 05:25 Since narrowband 24GHz is relatively inferior in range detection and recognition of objects, and use of ultra wideband 24GHz will expire in 2022, …

Global Narrowband IoT Market: Attributes of Efficiency and Efficacy for Municipal Applications … – Markets Insider Sep  7 17:50 Of them, the segment of smart metering holds the leading share in the market …

Narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) Market to be backed by its Growing Applications in the Coming Years – MarketPRNews Sep  7 17:35 Narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) Market to be backed by its Growing Applications in the Coming Years · Narrowband Internet-of-Things (IoT) Chipset Market …

AT&T’s Sambar apologizes to NPSTC, describes core-to-core interoperability as a ‘slippery slope’ – Urgent Communications Sep  7 15:20 Chris Sambar, AT&T’s official leading the FirstNet effort, apologizes for comments about the public-safety-grade (PSG) definition, said AT&T is …

Mike Maiorana, addressing APCO Conference, reinforces Verizon’s commitment to supporting public safety – Verizon Wireless Sep  7 15:04

Parsec Technologies Announces New Ruggedized External Antennas For In-Vehicle, Public … – Markets Insider Sep  7 06:25 … for in-vehicle, public safety, fleet management and field services applications. Parsec PRO Series are also optimized for FirstNet, the First Responders Network of critical infrastructure communications in the 700MHz spectrum.

FCC taps the brakes on fudging US broadband speed amid senator fury – The Register Sep  7 06:00 Tell me again why slower internet is a good thing? America’s comms watchdog has extended a comment period on a proposal to downgrade the definition of broadband to a slower speed.…