The Australian Communications Industry Association (ARCIA) has announced that its upcoming one-day conference, to be held in Sydney on 31 May, will feature discussion of the Australian Government’s latest progress regarding a Public Safety Mobile Broadband (PSMB) capability.

The government last week announced that it was committing $10.1 million to establish a taskforce to drive the delivery of a PSMB capability, led by the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), following an independent Public Safety Mobile Broadband Strategic Review. The response to the review also includes establishing an intergovernmental agreement and working in partnership with states and territories to ensure public safety agencies are equipped with modern technology and digital connectivity to improve operational preparedness, effectiveness and coordination during disaster events.

At the ARCIA one-day conference, James Pickens, Chief Digital and Technology Officer at the NSW Telco Authority, will present on the latest work being done towards a national, interoperable PSMB framework as well as the development of PSMB in NSW. He will be followed later in the day by Etherstack CEO David Deacon, who will talk about the latest international deployments of PSMB solutions, and Khalil Habash, Account Director of Nokia Australia, who will talk about Nokia’s integration of its 3GPP standards-based MCX solution with Etherstack’s LMR-IWF (InterWorking Function) on the NSW Public Safety Network as part of the Australian national PSMB proof of concept.

The Sydney conference is being held at the NSW Teachers Federation Conference Centre and will feature a jam-packed conference stream of presentations from expert speakers running alongside two half-day workshops. It will be immediately followed by the NSW State Networking Dinner at Pier One, Sydney Harbour, where the NSW Professional of the Year Award winner will be announced.

Both ARCIA members and non-members are welcome to attend, but numbers are strictly limited. For more information and to lock in your registration now, visit https://arcia.org.au/events/one-day-conference-sydney-may-2023/.