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A room full of attendees at the June 2019 3GPP meetings listen and take notes on laptops as a panel of four speakers at the front give a presentation.

Newport Beach, CA, 3GPP Plenary Meetings Recap

The June 2019 quarterly Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) meetings in Newport Beach, CA addressed standards in several areas related to public safety broadband communications and FirstNet. The major topic across the 3GPP plenary meetings was planning for 3GPP Release 17 (R17).

Three images: In the first, FirstNet Authority Board Chair Edward Horowitz delivers a speech. In the second, Phoenix Police Chief Jeri Williams and Phoenix Fire Department Assistant Chief Scott Walker are seated at a table. The third shows a large crowd of public safety officials with a table of Phoenix public safety leaders seated at the front of the room. Overlaid is a graphic representation of a network.

Blazing a Path Forward to Advance, Grow FirstNet

At the Public Safety Roadmap Summit, FirstNet Authority staff met with nearly 100 stakeholders from across the nation to collect their feedback to inform a Roadmap for the network. 

Photograph of event speaker seated in front of crowd of attendees sitting at tables.

Regional Engagement Focuses on Public Safety’s Needs

The FirstNet Authority joined the Iowa Statewide Interoperable Communications System Board for a Region VII User Forum in Altoona, Iowa. Public safety agencies from the region gathered to learn more about the latest FirstNet developments and key initiatives underway across Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, and Missouri.

Photo of a replica steam locomotive train at Golden Spike National Historical Park next to a photo of FirstNet Authority Senior Public Safety Advisor Tracey Murdock and FirstNet AT&T standing in front of a FirstNet deployable.

From Dots and Dashes to Streaming Video

In May 2019, thousands of spectators met in Utah to celebrate the moment when the last spike of the first transcontinental railroad was driven into 1,800 miles of track linking East with West. FirstNet was on hand to support the event, providing the Utah National Guard with new ways to communicate and operate.

An AT&T SatColt and a tent are set up in a field near a forest.

FirstNet Connects Rural Responders During Search and Rescue Exercises

First responders from the Commonwealth of Virginia and the State of Maryland integrated FirstNet into search and rescue exercises held in Gore, VA — a remote region in the Shenandoah Valley. The exercise gave first responders the opportunity to practice operationalizing public safety broadband in rural areas and in situations they may not experience every day.