Ericsson, Telstra, and Motorola deliver first LTE broadcast-enabled PTT call
Created March 7, 2017
Applications and ResearchLast week’s Mobile World Congress 2017 in Barcelona.
Telstra, Ericsson, Motorola Solutions, and Qualcomm Technologies have achieved the first LTE Broadcast-enabled PTT call on Telstra’s commercial LANES Solution. Telstra’s LTE Broadcast capability allows PTT group calls to be delivered simultaneously to all members of a group call with high assurance, low latency and separated from regular mobile traffic. The announcement was made at Mobile World Congress, last week, in Barcelona, Spain.
The enabling technology is based on the 3GPP release 13 standard known as MC-PTT over LTE. The technology is viewed as complementary to secure LMR services and can extend assured PTT service to a greater number of users via mobile devices. It will allow public safety agencies and enterprises to do two things: extend PTT capabilities to more users via both hardened devices and regular smart phones; and provide complementary coverage and capacity to LMR networks.
The call was made possible through Ericsson’s flexible and efficient network infrastructure, Motorola Solutions’ experience in mission-critical communications for public safety, Qualcomm Technologies’ Qualcomm Snapdragon platform and Telstra’s network resources and expertise in defining and deploying next generation communications standards and capabilities.
Mike Wright, Telstra Group Managing Director, Networks said, “With this call, we have shown that our LANES network can provide reliable prioritised communications to both PSAs and business customers with critical communications needs. PTT is part of Telstra’s LANES roadmap for our Public Safety customers and complements the data and VoLTE services already available using this world-leading technology.”
Per Narvinger, Head of Ericsson RAN said, “This first LTE Broadcast enabled PTT call on Telstra’s live commercial network demonstrates the capabilities of Ericsson’s LTE solution and shows how LTE Broadcast can deliver new services for our customers.”
Bruce Brda, Executive VP Products and Services with Motorola Solutions said, “We look forward to advancing both the standards and technologies needed to deliver this new service. While mission-critical LMR systems will continue to provide the critical means of frontline communication, this new 3GPP-based technology extends the reach of LMR networks to many more technology users, whether they communicate with a smart phone, hardened device or a desktop computer.”
The solution delivers critical communications capabilities including optimized push to talk latency, flexible talk group management and call pre-emption for LTE devices such as smart phones, tablets, and desktop computers. The use of LTE Broadcast allows faster call setup times, reduced PTT latency and uses efficient downlink bandwidths for group PTT calls.
The addition of an assured PTT service to Telstra’s prioritized access LANES Solution comes after the launch of Telstra’s LANES Emergency solution in 2016, which included VoLTE for Public Safety capability. Combined, the LANES solution and LTE Broadcast enabled PTT will provide PSAs and critical applications with prioritised access and preferential treatment for voice and data services.
More about Mobile World Congress 2017 on the event website.
