FirstNet Fusion—the mission-critical-push-to-talk (MCPTT) service that AT&T officials have said is designed to promote voice interoperability—is generally available for use by public-safety entities, according to AT&T, which is the nationwide contractor building and maintaining the nationwide FirstNet system.

AT&T officials have talked about FirstNet Fusion for about nine months, but the much-anticipated offering was not available for all public-safety agencies to purchase until earlier this month.

“Fusion is available to public-safety agencies across the country—since announcing the controlled introduction last October, more than 70 agencies have started using Fusion,” according to an AT&T statement provided to IWCE’s Urgent Communications.

“FirstNet, Built with AT&T, took feedback from hundreds of responders across dozens of federal, state and local agencies to extend secure, mission-critical communications and connect teams across virtually any land-mobile-radio system or U.S. wireless carrier. We are committed to providing all first responders with the tools they need to protect communities and save lives.”

Announced in October 2025, FirstNet Fusion is powered by the 3GPP-standard MCX platform from Streamwide, which the French government used to support law-enforcement initiatives surrounding the 2024 Summer Olympics as a precursor to deploying MCX technology for public-safety agencies throughout France. AT&T named Streamwide as its vendor choice to provide FirstNet MCX solutions—3GPP-standard-compliant mission-critical-push-to-talk (MCPTT), MCData and MCVideo—just a few weeks prior to unveiling FirstNet Fusion.

FirstNet Fusion is replacing FirstNet PTT, the Samsung-powered MCPTT offering that gained very little traction in the public-safety market and was sunset at the end of last year. Users of FirstNet PTT applauded the performance of the solution, but it lacked broad device support and interoperability with non-FirstNet PTT users.

In contrast, the Fusion MCPTT offering is immediately supported by all cellular devices and supports interoperable PTT with land-mobile-radio (LMR) systems via Fusion Link, the 3GPP-standard Interworking Function (IWF) solution that is supplied by Etherstack, according to Matt Walsh, AT&T’s head of FirstNet and next-generation 911 products.

FirstNet subscribers will continue to have Rapid Response—the MCPTT offering from Motorola Solutions built from technology secured through the purchase of Kodiak Networks in 2017—as an MCPTT option, Walsh said when FirstNet Fusion was introduced in October 2025. However, Rapid Response will be separate from Fusion.

“It comes down to giving public safety choice,” Walsh said during an interview with IWCE’s Urgent Communications when FirstNet Fusion was announced last year. “There are some that are really invested and bought into the Motorola ecosystem and have a preference to stay there. We’re giving them an opportunity to have that option to do that and still be on the FirstNet network, but bringing Fusion as an alternative path for them to be able to facilitate these communications.”

A lack of interoperability between PTT-over-broadband solutions from AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile—although each of these carriers uses the same PTT technology—has long been a concern within the public-safety community, and the transition to MCPTT has not resolved that issue to date. However, the long-term goal of FirstNet Fusion is to support interoperability by letting users that subscribe to other carriers use the solution on their networks, Walsh said last year.

Separately, AT&T last week updated figures regarding FirstNet adoption. Through the end of June, the FirstNet system provides more than 8.4 million connections for more than 31,900 public-safety agencies, AT&T reported last week.

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