January 4, 2006

SouthernLinc Wireless will soon provide wireless priority service, a key post-9/11 telecom offering available to officials in federal, state and local governments and to critical industry executives.

"The ability to communicate quickly and efficiently is critical to certain professions," said Bob Dawson, president and chief executive officer of SouthernLinc Wireless.

Wireless priority service, which queues up WPS calls ahead of others in times of emergency without disrupting service to the general public, is already provided by major wireless carriers over GSM and iDEN wireless networks.

Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel Corp. do not offer WPS over their wireless networks, but are expected to begin doing so in the next year or so.

The pecking order for WPS calls is: executive leadership and policy makers first, followed by disaster response/military command control; public health, safety and law enforcement command; public service/utilities and public welfare; and disaster recovery.

Source: RCR