T-Mobile US Puts NYC Emergency Services In The 5G Fast Lane With Network Slicing

T-Mobile US has signed a deal to provide telecoms for emergency services in New York City using network slicing to their ensure calls and data traffic are prioritized above other users.

America's second-largest mobile provider revealed that NYC has selected it to support mission-critical operations for first responders across the city via its T-Priority service, announced last September.

No figures have been mentioned on how much this deal is worth to the wireless operator, so we asked and will update if we get an answer.

T-Priority is built upon the network slice capability that is a feature of 5G Standalone (5G SA) networks. Network slices can be likened to virtual networks for specific services or users running on the same cellular infrastructure.

In this case, T-Priority is claimed to ensure first responders get lower latency and faster 5G speeds, even in times of extreme congestion.

According to the network, New York represents "one of the most congested and demanding environments for connectivity anywhere in the world," making it a challenge to ensure the emergency services are able to communicate at all times. It cited a survey indicating that 64 percent of first responders worried about an unreliable network as their main communications concern.

"Our mission is to use reliable, cutting-edge technology to make New York City safer and more affordable for all, and this collaboration with T-Mobile is helping us do just that," said New York City chief technology officer Matthew Fraser.

"First responders are the backbone of public safety, and they deserve the most advanced 5G technology to support them when lives are on the line," said T-Mobile Business Group President Callie Field.

• Telco to open lab to test cell network interoperability with satellites
• T-Mobile goes live with beta of satellite phone service for the US
• T-Mobile US CSO: Spies jumped from one telco to another in a way 'I've not seen in my career'
• T-Mobile US takes a victory lap after stopping cyberattacks: 'Other providers may be seeing different outcomes'

However, there is already an existing special service for first responders, FirstNet, which is operated by AT&T Mobility, set up in response to calls for a nationwide emergency telecoms system in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks. Why choose this over the existing system?

According to PCMag, Field pointed to FirstNet being based on 4G technology and claimed it offers only a fraction of T-Priority's capacity. There is also the matter of an AT&T outage last year that affected FirstNet users as well as preventing ordinary subscribers from accessing services including 911.

Network slicing has also ignited controversy among some commentators. Last year, a law professor argued that the capability would lead to the creation of "fast lanes" that would allow network operators to charge subscribers more for better performance in applications such as games and video streaming.

The FCC duly obliged and ruled against the practice in the final text of its net neutrality order, but this is unlikely to have affected use cases such as the emergency services, and in any case net neutrality was struck down again by a panel of appeal court judges at the start of the year.

The UK, meanwhile, has been having its own fun providing a dedicated network for emergency services, with a contract being awarded last month to IBM to deliver the Emergency Service Network (ESN) upgrade. Motorola earlier pulled out of the project due to perceived conflicts of interest as it was already running the existing emergency services network, Airwave. ®