Working Together to Transform Public Safety Communications

Over the last 50 years, major U.S. industries—aerospace, automobile, energy, consumer electronics and more—have implemented significant technological changes to adapt to the shifting and growing demands of consumers. Just as these industries have evolved with the digital age, so too is the emergency communications industry, which is undergoing a major transformation with the arrival of FirstNet—the only nationwide wireless broadband network dedicated to first responders. Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow I first became involved in the efforts of FirstNet as a representative of and advocate for the communications needs of the National Association of State EMS Officials. Together with other public safety associations, we took our cause to Congress. When legislation passed to create the First Responder Network Authority (i.e., FirstNet Authority) and give it the responsibility of establishing a nationwide public safety broadband network, I didn’t imagine the network would be so far down the road we’ve been down already in such a short amount of time. Thanks to a public-private partnership between the FirstNet Authority and AT&T, FirstNet is now a reality—an expanding nationwide network for EMS and all of public safety. Just over one year into FirstNet’s five-year buildout, the network has seen an increase in LTE coverage by more than 50,000 square miles. As of May, there are more than 7,250 public safety agencies using 600,000 device connections on FirstNet, and ad...
Source: JEMS Operations - Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Tags: Exclusive Articles Operations Source Type: news