The principal purpose of this document is to define, from the perspective of the National Public Safety Telecommunications Council (NPSTC), broadband public safety PTT requirements for consideration by FirstNet as it embarks on its mission to deploy the nation’s first Nationwide Public Safety Broadband Network (NPSBN) and the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), along with other international standards bodies.

Public safety grade PTT voice remains the most critical means of communications for first responders in emergency situations and cannot be compromised.  Although the focus of this document is public safety grade PTT voice communications, it is not intended to exclude other forms of voice communications currently routinely used by many public safety agencies such as public switched telephone network (PSTN) voice, and commercial grade PTT voice, from the network.

The BBWG believes Long Term Evolution (LTE) public safety grade voice PTT communications requirements are universal, and these requirements should be adopted globally.  These requirements stem from a collaboration of users, and the implementation of Best Practices within the mission critical public safety community. This document defines those requirements.