Urgent Communications Tech Talk

In This Issue

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Talking Points

Wireless VoIP not ready for prime time

Last month Harlin McEwen, chairman of the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) technology committee, released a white paper saying broadband voice will not replace LMR for "many years, if ever." He was sounding the alarm over the misinformation he was hearing among policy-makers in Washington, D.C. around the notion that broadband voice could replace LMR, therefore allowing public safety to use narrowband spectrum for a broadband network in the near future.

He's right. If one looks at the commercial world, you have to wonder whether IP will ever replace voice either.

Verizon Wireless is one of the most aggressive operators in the world in terms of migrating to Long Term Evolution (LTE), with plans to roll out 20 to 30 markets next year. While the network will be all IP, it will actually become a long process before all traffic, primarily voice, is running on the LTE network. Analysts say it could be another 10 years before Verizon offers true VoIP services. It will be relying on its circuit-switched networks to support voice services. Read More

In the News

Broadband stimulus awards delayed

Winners of federal broadband stimulus awards won't be announced until December, a month later than what was originally planned. Larry Strickling, chief of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) cited the complexity of sorting through the vast number of applications that were received. He said the agency wants to take more time with the first round. Read More

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