31 May 2020

Broadband provider offers free 5G for US emergency services

T-Mobile has offered “free service and 5G access” for ten years to all US first responder agencies as part of its Connecting Heroes initiative.

The move - which according to the company will cost around $7 billion – will provide unlimited smartphone data, text and voice “with the highest network priority [given to] to every public and non-profit state and local, police, fire and EMS agency."

Speaking of the roll-out, T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert said: “People who save lives shouldn’t have to choose between life-saving equipment and wireless service. Connecting Heroes is one way we’re saying ‘thank you’ in this critical time.”

Mike Mayta, CIO at the City of Wichita in Kansas, said: “Access to critical communications is vitally important for our first responders. The more information that we can get to them, the better they’re going to be able to serve the public.”

According to T-Mobile, the launch has been made possible by its recent merger with Sprint. “In just a few short years,” says a press statement, “the new company will have 14 times the capacity of T-Mobile standalone, covering 99 per cent of Americans nationwide.”