Mission Critical Push To Talk over Cellular (PTToC)
In the world of modern communication, reliability is key. When it comes to mission-critical needs, ensuring that communication channels are always open and functioning is essential. This is where Push-to-Talk (PTT) over cellular networks (PTToC) comes into play.
PTT over cellular networks can indeed be used for mission-critical needs, but only if certain requirements are met. This includes having a mission-critical network and backbone in place, as well as software, hardware, and servers that meet the necessary reliability standards.
Service Level Agreements
For customers requiring guaranteed mission-critical communications, strict Service Level Agreements (SLAs) or guarantees on network uptime and bandwidth are necessary.
One example of a network that meets these requirements is Telstra LANES, which offers Private LTE and Wi-Fi services. These networks provide the reliability, redundancy, and SLAs needed for mission-critical communications. Despite occasional outages, such as the one on May 21st, 2018 which affected many customers for two hours, Telstra’s overall uptime remains high at around 99.977% annually. Standard public cellular networks do not come with service level guarantees, making any PTT service using these networks unable to be classified as mission-critical. Typical mission-critical requirements aim for 99.999% availability (“five nines”), which translates to a maximum of 5.26 minutes of downtime per year.While achieving such high levels of reliability can be challenging for commercial radio network operators, Telstra’s mobile network has shown high levels of service due to its built-in redundancy features.
Global Mission Critical Push-to-Talk
International operators like FirstNet in the US and TETRA operators in the UK accept availability levels ranging from 99.9% to 99.98%.It’s clear that when it comes to mission-critical communication needs, reliability is paramount. With the right network infrastructure in place and stringent SLAs in effect, PTT over cellular networks can indeed meet these critical requirements.
Overall, PTT services using reliable cellular networks have proven to be a viable option for organisations with mission-critical communication needs.
For more information about mobile network reliability and its importance for mission-critical PTT services please refer to our references below:
References:
- Public Safety Mobile Broadband Research Report by Australian Government
- National Public Safety Telecommunications Council report on Defining Public Safety Grade Systems
- Network Reliability Framework for fixed voice services by Telstra
IF you would like to learn more about Push to Talk’s role in critical communications, just get in touch.