- T-Mobile goes big on NYC public safety contract
- The un-carrier is using its 5G SA network to try and gain an advantage in this space
- It's now a three-horse race, an analyst told Fierce
T-Mobile officially announced its New York City public safety deal as it talked up its T-Priority 5G network slice for first responders at an event in New York on Thursday night.
"It is one of the largest deals in the history of T-Mobile for Business," Callie Field, president of T-Mobile's Business Group, told Fierce in an on-site briefing before the event.
The deal names T-Mobile the single carrier for all emergency agencies in the five boroughs of NYC.
This brings T-Mobile into competition with AT&T and Verizon for first responder offerings.
Historically, Verizon boasted the largest market share for public safety, but in 2017, AT&T won the 25-year contract to provide the network for FirstNet, the first nationwide U.S. network dedicated to public safety. The 9/11 Commission recommended a nationwide, interoperable network after the tragedies of 9/11 exposed problems with first responders’ inability to communicate.
Field said FirstNet was "a good idea for the time, but that was 20 years ago" and first responders are looking at newer technologies to solve their problems now.
T-Mobile talks up the advantages it offers with 5G, including capacity and speed. President of Technology Ulf Edwaldsson said T-Mobile's service offers much higher data speeds on the network using its 5G standalone (5G SA) core.
"It's a three-horse race now," quipped Roger Entner, founder of Recon Analytics, at the event.
Slices akimbo
Edwaldsson noted that although T-Priority is one of T-Mobile's high profile slicing launches, T-Mobile will do more. The "un-carrier" has already done the PGA golf tour and offered photographers access to a 5G slice at the Superbowl, he said.
Field also noted that T-Priority will expand T-Mobile's market with first responders. "At the time we announced it ... we had less than 2 million first responder customers," she said. The entire market right now is around 14 million customers and expected to grow to 18 million by 2028.