SK Telecom and Nokia claim first MCPTT solution over VoLTE

SK Telecom and Nokia have jointly developed what they claim is the first ‘Mission-Critical Push-To-Talk (MCPTT)’ solution, a next-generation push-to-talk communications technology over VoLTE.The partners demonstrated the solution at Nokia's Research and Development Center in Kraków, Poland.

As the standard for mission-critical-voice functionality over LTE adopted by the 3GPP standards body, MCPTT enables efficient communication among hundreds of rescue workers by using a dedicated channel at times of massive disasters.

Unlike the existing IP-based push-to-talk, which is heavily affected by the number of users on the same network, MCPTT ensures high-quality communications as it uses the VoLTE network and supports a stable group communications service - even when there is a surge in users - through the application of Group Communication System Enabler (GCSE) 

For this reason, emergency service organisations such as police and fire fighting agencies in countries like Korea, the United States and Great Britain called for the development of MCPTT. As a result, the technology has been standardised in March 2016 by the 3GPP standard body through close cooperation and active participation of these relevant organisations.

SK Telecom plans to utilise the MCPTT solution for Public Safety-LTE (PS-LTE) and LTE-Railroad (LTE-R) in Korea and also expects to expand its reach to countries that are currently promoting the public safety network projects such as the United States and Great Britain.

“For the first time in the world, SK Telecom and Nokia have successfully developed MCPTT, the core solution for public safety networks,” said Shim Sang-soo, Senior Vice President and Head of Infra Business Promotion Office. "SK Telecom will continue to contribute to the successful completion of the public safety network project in Korea, while actively seeking new business opportunities in the global market."