The public safety network will have Samsung’s Mission-Critical Push-to-Talk capabilities
Samsung Electronics is working with Korean mobile operators on the deployment of the world’s first 3GPP-compliant nationwide public safety LTE (PS-LTE) network. The PS-LTE network will operate in 700 MHz spectrum to provide connectivity to first responders in more than 330 of Korean’s public safety organizations and agencies.
The PS-LTE network is also interconnected with the existing LTE-Maritime (LTE-M) and LTE-Railway (LTE-R) networks, which were already operating at 700 MHz.
Specifically, the deployment includes Samsung’s Mission-Critical Push-to-Talk (MCPTT) with multimedia broadcast capabilities, known as evolved Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service (eMBMS). According to Samsung, eMBMS enables simultaneous transmission to up to 2,500 user devices per cell, more than twice the volume of devices supported by previous-generation technologies.
As Seungil Kim, vice president and head of Korea Business, Networks Business at Samsung Electronics pointed out, it is critical that multiple agencies and institutions be able to communicate reliably and in real time during an emergency.
Therefore, the public safety network will have nationwide coverage so that it can serve as a “unified platform” that creates “interoperability among various public safety institutions.”
“We will continue to offer advanced PS-LTE solutions to bolster Korea’s PS-LTE network, meeting the highest standards for reliability, performance and security,” he added.
Samsung has been supporting the PS-LTE network in Korea since 2016, when it was selected as a provider of end-to-end PS-LTE solutions, from infrastructure to devices.
More recently, the company demonstrated a video call on Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud platform using Mission Critical Push-to-Talk, Data and Video (MCPTX).
Based on 3GPP Release 14 specifications, the AWS demonstration was conducted at the Samsung lab in Korea and included Samsung’s latest MCPTX solutions, its MCPTX service platform, as well as the Samsung Galaxy XCover FieldPro – a smartphone designed to be rugged and secure enough for first responders.
A statement released at the time stated that by surpassing the data and video capabilities of Land Mobile Radio (LMR) technology, MCPTX “opens a new horizon in advancing public safety.”
