Public Safety Mobile Broadband
A national Public Safety Mobile Broadband (PSMB) capability will provide emergency services with access to high-speed mobile voice and data services to communicate more easily and improve responses to critical incidents.
PSMB is a joint Commonwealth, state and territory initiative to provide the reliable communications needed for our public safety agencies to continue to keep Australians safe.
Access to mission-critical mobile voice and data services will allow emergency services to use technologies such as:
- personal location tracking
- body camera live streams
- bushfire monitoring drones.
PSMB ensures reliable communications
Emergency services organisations use ultra-high frequency radio to communicate. This is robust and reliable but cannot support heavy data traffic and web-based applications.
Some emergency services also use consumer-grade commercial mobile broadband networks to transmit data and supplement existing systems. These networks do not meet mission-critical standards.
Telco Authority's role in the PSMB project
NSW Telco Authority is leading two workstreams on behalf of all Australian states and territories.
- Managing a proof-of-concept trial to help develop and test technologies
- Leading the national spectrum subgroup working to secure dedicated spectrum for PSMB
When is the PSMB trial running?
The proof-of-concept trial runs from May 2021 until December 2022. The findings of this trial will help shape the design of the national PSMB.