Over the past year, mobile telecommunications provider T-Mobile has been working to deploy advanced capabilities to regions ravaged by natural disasters in order to help first responders maintain access to key services.
In an interview with Nextgov/FCW, Nicole Hudnet — emergency response team advisor for T-Mobile Business Group — said the provider has been working to deploy new technologies and provide enhanced network connectivity to areas devastated by wildfires and hurricanes, with the company further working to strengthen its partnerships with state and local authorities.
Last September, T-Mobile unveiled T-Prority, which Hudnet called “the world’s first 5G network slice to give our first responders more reliable data connectivity, the faster speeds and the lower latency, even during those times of congestion.”
Initially, New York City was announced as the “anchor customer” for T-Priority, but Hudnet said the service is designed to expand across networks, particularly during times of extreme congestion.
“Why is this so critical for our first responders is they’re deploying more drones and AI-enabled technologies and data intensive communications — body worn cameras, traffic cameras, mapping tools — than ever before,” Hudnet said.
T-Mobile has also been working to provide the Department of Defense with T-Priority services to help the U.S. military maintain network reliability around the globe.
In response to a series of wildfires in Southern California earlier this year — including the devastating Palisades fire that burned more than 20,000 acres in Los Angeles County — T-Mobile activated more than 350 T-Priority hotspots and routers to help the Los Angeles Fire Department use the dedicated slice of the provider’s 5G network.
The company also deployed one of its emergency response teams to Los Angeles, which help to assist first responders with frontline connectivity services.
Beyond providing on-the-ground assistance to first responders, T-Mobile is part of emergency response working groups from the federal level down to the state and local levels. Hudnet said part of this work includes developing public-private partnerships ahead of disasters “so that when these events occur, you’re aware of the resources that are available.”
“Our goal is to really connect with those [emergency operations centers] at especially the state and local level, because that is where a lot of the heartbeat of that response is,” she added. “And so we’re coordinating with these emergency operations centers to prioritize and understand the priorities in the communities, and also the priorities serving their first responders.”
She said the provider has been conducting exercises with government agencies, such as FEMA, and that “it’s really important that agencies bring in all of their providers — whether it’s a tabletop exercise or a full-scale exercise — so that we go through these scenarios together.”
T-Mobile has also deployed other advanced tools to help frontline responders, including artificial intelligence-powered technologies and drones.
After Hurricane Helene led to widespread flooding across Asheville, North Carolina, last September, Hudnet said T-Mobile’s response teams worked with the town’s police department to provide recon and assessments through the use of its heavy-lift and search and rescue drones.
Hudnet also noted that the provider’s enhanced self-organizing network “uses real time data and AI to detect issues and adapt automatically to give first responders reliable connectivity before, during and after disasters.” The networks, which can reduce coverage gaps in regions where they are deployed, were used in response to both Hurricane Helene and the California wildfires.
T-Mobile is already working to expand its partnerships with local jurisdictions. After last year’s announcement that New York City would be its “anchor customer” for T-Priority, the provider announced in February that it signed a major agreement with the city “to be the single carrier for all its public safety network.”
