Subject: [NEXTEL-1] NCS expands coverage for Wireless Priority Service

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 25 Apr 2003 10:55:34 -0400

NCS expands coverage for Wireless Priority Service

04/24/03
By William Jackson,
Post Newsweek Tech Media

The National Communications System has expanded coverage for its Wireless Priority Service
for cellular phone users into the
western and northeastern continental United States and Hawaii.

WPS is the cellular equivalent of the Government Emergency Telecommunications Service,
which provides priority wireline
telephone service to national security and emergency service personnel during emergencies.

T-Mobile USA Inc. of Bellevue, Wash., remains the only cellular carrier to offer the
service, although NCS program manager
John Graves said he expected other carriers to join in the near future.

An initial stopgap service offering limited wireless priority in Washington and New York
was initiated following Sept. 11, 2001,
and in Salt Lake City for the 2002 Olympic games.

A second phase with more advanced technology was rolled out in January in 15 T-Mobile
market areas across the south and in
Philadelphia and Boston.

The latest expansion adds market areas around Albuquerque, N.M.; Austin, Texas; Chicago;
Cincinnati; Dallas-Fort Worth,
Texas; Denver; Detroit; Honolulu; Milwaukee; Oklahoma City; Salt Lake City; Tulsa, Okla.;
and Wichita, Kan.

The service also is available throughout Connecticut, south and central Pennsylvania,
upstate New York, and West Texas.

Authorized users in federal, state and local government and key private infrastructure
organizations can go to the head of the
queue for an open cellular channel when a WPS prefix is dialed with a number, increasing
the chances of completing a call
during times of congestion. Priority calls do not pre-empt calls in progress, so WPS will
not monopolize cellular service in an
emergency.

NCS contracted with T-Mobile for the service through DynCorp of Reston, Va., the WPS
integration contractor. The priority
service now is available only on Global System for Mobile Communication systems. NCS plans
to add carriers using Code
Division Multiple Access, the predominant U.S. cellular technology, to the program.

http://www.washingtontechnology.com/news/1_1/daily_news/20610-1.html

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