Washington, DC – The Global Alliance of the Association for Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) Partners and the TETRA Critical Communications Association (TCCA) today announced that they will work together in support of the efforts of the Public Safety Communications Research Laboratories (PSCR), a joint program between the United States National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). By joining forces, the Global Alliance and TETRA endeavor to raise awareness around the need for the development of mission critical public safety communications standards for Long Term Evolution (LTE)-based technology.

The APCO-TETRA partnership underscores that it is critical that the world’s governments ensure a coordinated global approach by standards bodies when it comes to the real-time multimedia communication capabilities provided by LTE. This will ensure that these advanced capabilities are available to public safety agencies locally, nationally and internationally. The 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) is the body developing the LTE standard.

The primary purpose of the affiliation between the Global Alliance and the TCCA is to make certain that the 3GPP and other standards bodies are informed of the needs of the world’s public safety agencies for LTE standards that go beyond those of the average consumer. The goal is to provide public safety with a mission critical standard of reliability and interoperability that builds upon existing land mobile radio systems currently used by public safety agencies.

Commenting on the APCO-TCCA partnership, APCO President Gregg Riddle released the following statement:

“The Global Alliance and the TCCA support public safety agencies in meeting the challenges they face in an increasingly complex environment, not the least of which is the cost and time required to put the capabilities offered by LTE in place.

“Public safety agencies and governments need sound evidence-based research to inform decisions about investment options that will both meet the needs of the agencies and contribute to a strong competitive marketplace for public safety equipment manufacturers, vendors and network operators.

“The Global Alliance and the TCCA therefore believe that the research being undertaken by the PSCR on public safety communications is critical to identifying the needs of the public safety community for LTE and therefore fully supports the efforts of the PSCR to have these needs recognized by standards bodies.

“The Global Alliance and the TCCA believe that the formation of new affiliations, such as theirs, will produce the combined expertise and influence necessary to increase the awareness for the world’s public safety agencies to have access to LTE, through a level of collaboration, cooperation and coordination between agencies, their bureaucracies and governments – in conjunction with the private sector – on a scale not seen before.”

APCO-TETRA Partnership – draft