Verizon to Establish Public Safety Network Core; Michael Maiorana Comments

Verizon Communications plans to set up and operate a private network for first responders and other public safety personnel.

The proposed public safety network will run separately from Verizon’s commercial core, manage call routing, network access and other communication functions as well as provide first responders access to the company’s 4G LTE network, Verizon said Wednesday.

“We’re making the investments necessary to give public safety access to the best possible network coverage, reliability and capability, when and where they need it,” said Michael Maiorana, senior vice president of public sector at Verizon.

The New York-based telecommunications firm will work to provide pre-emption services and priority access to public safety officials free of charge through the proposed network and invest in new 4G LTE voice communications capabilities to further support its Push-to-Talk Plus service and other current service offerings.

The announcement came five months after the First Responder Network Authority awarded AT&T a potential $6.5 billion contract to build a national public safety broadband network for first responders.

Verizon will not require states to opt out of FirstNet and make investments to support the deployment of the public safety network.

Under the plan, the company will also field multi-band devices to offer access to the Band 14 spectrum and facilitate interoperability with FirstNet’s Band 14 radio access networks.