Broadband industry group formed to support public safety tech
A new industry working group was formed earlier this month to promote wireless standards that support public safety operations and technology.
Through critical communications group TCCA, representatives from Nokia and Ericsson were announced on Sept. 7 as leaders of a Broadband Industry Group (BIG) to encourage broadband vendor cooperation in the development of common global solutions. The group is chaired by Philippe Agard, Nokia’s global public safety and defense segment leader and vice-chaired by Jason Johur, Ericsson’s market development director.
Agard told StateScoop via email that the group will enable industry greater collaboration on “mission critical” public safety features and development of “the end to end ecosystem.”
The formation of BIG is intended to support the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), a unification of seven telecommunications standard development organizations that ensures interoperability of radio access networks, services and systems aspects, and core network and terminals.
“Nokia expects to continue to provide its support to continued development of the critical communications for the use of harmonized 3GPP spectrum and technology for all vertical industries like transport, energy and public Safety,” Agard said.
When asked if the new partnership would have any relation to the FirstNet network, a next-generation national public safety network being developed by AT&T and a federal agency that goes by the same name, Agard said that while there is no direct connection, the work to come out of BIG is expected to benefit public safety networks like FirstNet and “other similar global deployments.”
