By Police1 Staff
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — City officials hope to finalize a contract within a week that will create a wireless network for first responders.
As more people surf the Internet on smart phones, police and fire compete for the same bandwidth, so city officials are working on a contract with Alcatel Lucent to build a 4G network, WFAE News reported. Since it will be exclusively for public safety, lines of communication will not risk jamming from civilian use.
“By creating a parallel system we’re gonna be able to assure that our public safety folks will have ready access to each other,” Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx said.
A federal stimulus grant of nearly $17 million will finance most of the cost, and City Council is scheduled to approve the contract on September 26th.