February 3, 2010 By Russell Nichols
At the end of 2009, the world of fourth-generation (4G) mobile telecommunications technology got a boost when a Swedish telecom operator deployed the first-ever commercial long-term evolution (LTE) services in Stockholm, Sweden and Oslo, Norway.
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 Government. "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.
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