April 25, 2006

Verizon Wireless said it expects this month to provide wireless priority service to authorized local, state and federal officials during times of emergency.

Verizon Wireless WPS is set to be first available to subscribers in the nation’s capital, Maryland, Northern Virginia and Chicago, as well as to select users in counties in Los Angeles and Southern Florida.

Verizon Wireless said it plans to add markets until the service is available nationwide, a goal Verizon said it expects to reach by the end of this year.

The No. 2 mobile phone carrier is working with Computer Sciences Corp., a National Communications System integration contractor for the Government Emergency Telecommunications Service, to provide WPS.

WPS puts emergency calls of national security, emergency responders and others ahead of other subscribers, but the service does not preempt calls already in progress.

“If an event were to occur and trigger increased traffic on wireless networks, it is critical for those responding to the emergency to be able to get through as fast as possible,” said Mike Maiorana, vice president of the government team at Verizon Wireless.

“Verizon Wireless is pleased to support the government’s mission by making this important resource available to those charged with caring for our public safety and security.”

Verizon Wireless, one of the two national CDMA carriers, is the third nationwide operator to implement WPS. GSM carriers T-Mobile USA Inc. and Cingular Wireless L.L.C. have been offering wireless priority access for several years.

Prior to its acquisition by Sprint Corp, Nextel Communications Inc. had begun deploying WPS. Sprint Nextel Corp. has yet to integrate WPS capability into its CDMA network, but is working to do so.

The Bush administration accelerated efforts to establish WPS throughout the country following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States.

Source: RCR