In NIST’s first measurements of a standards-based LTE mission-critical push-to-talk (MCPTT) system, access delay came in at 103.9 ± 4.1 ms, about a third of the 300 ms ceiling that 3GPP sets for the time between pressing the talk button and being cleared to speak. That one lab number captures the promise of broadband push-to-talk. The field picture is more mixed: AT&T says FirstNet now supports nearly 8 million connections, the UK has budgeted 19.1 billion pounds for its Emergency Services Network through 2043/44, and the latest ETSI interoperability event passed 92% of its tests, not 100%. This roundup focuses on broadband voice performance and MCX standards (MCX is the 3GPP umbrella for mission-critical push-to-talk, data and video); for radio system counts and the P25 upgrade cycle, see our land mobile radio and P25 migration statistics. We aggregated data from 3GPP, NIST’s Public Safety Communications Research division (PSCR), the FirstNet Authority, AT&T congressional testimony, the UK Home Office and National Audit Office, ETSI, Erillisverkot, an APEC submission by Korea, and peer-reviewed testbed studies.
TL;DR
- MCPTT access time must be under 300 ms for 95% of requests (99% on emergency calls), and mouth-to-ear latency under 300 ms for 95% of voice bursts (3GPP, TS 22.179).
- LTE MCPTT access delay measured 103.9 ± 4.1 ms, while P25 trunked Phase 2 radio showed 601.9 ms mouth-to-ear latency (NIST PSCR, NIST IR 8328 2020).
- FirstNet grew from about 7 million connections in March 2025 to nearly 8 million in February 2026 (AT&T, House Energy and Commerce testimony 2026).
- Over 2,600 temporary coverage solutions were triaged and deployed in fiscal 2025 (FirstNet Authority, Annual Report FY2025).
- UK ESN whole life budget: 19.1 billion pounds to 2043/44, 6.1 billion pounds spent to date (Home Office, ESMCP 2025 Programme Business Case Summary).
- South Korea’s PS-LTE Safe-Net cost approximately 1.1 billion US dollars and launched in May 2021 (Korea, APEC SDMOF submission 2025).
- Virve 2 broadband subscribers equal one fifth of Finland’s legacy Virve base (Erillisverkot, Strategy and Business Review 2025).
- France targets 300,000 users on its new Réseau Radio du Futur by 2027 (Acteurs Publics, reporting the Ministry of the Interior 2025).
- ETSI’s 10th MCX Plugtests hit a 92% interoperability success rate across 356 tests (ETSI, 10th MCX Plugtests announcement 2026).
1. The 3GPP Latency Targets: What “Mission Critical” Means in Milliseconds
Mission-critical push-to-talk is defined by its timing rules. 3GPP TS 22.179 sets four key performance indicators (KPIs): access time (from pressing the push-to-talk button until the user gets the signal to speak), end-to-end access time, mouth-to-ear latency (from the moment a speaker talks until the listener’s speaker plays it back) and late call entry time (how long a user joining a call already in progress waits before hearing it). The headline target is an access time below 300 ms for 95% of requests, tightened to 99% for emergency group calls and imminent peril calls (calls placed when a responder faces immediate danger).
The fine print matters as much as the number. The KPIs are to be measured with negligible backhaul delay and under traffic load not exceeding 70% of each network node’s capacity, which describes a healthy network, not one saturated during a disaster. The standard has also kept moving: Release 13 was the specification’s initial planned release, and version 21.0.0 was uploaded on October 2, 2026 for Release 21, per the 3GPP specification page for TS 22.179.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| MCPTT access time (KPI 1): group calls with no acknowledgement requested vs emergency group calls and imminent peril calls | Less than 300 ms for 95% of all requests vs less than 300 ms for 99% of all requests | 3GPP, TS 22.179 (MCPTT Stage 1) |
| End-to-end MCPTT access time (KPI 2), users under coverage of the same network | Less than 1000 ms | 3GPP, TS 22.179 (MCPTT Stage 1) |
| Mouth-to-ear latency (KPI 3) | Less than 300 ms for 95% of all voice bursts | 3GPP, TS 22.179 (MCPTT Stage 1) |
| Maximum late call entry time (KPI 4), without vs with application layer encryption | Less than 150 ms vs less than 350 ms | 3GPP, TS 22.179 (MCPTT Stage 1) |
| Extra performance allowance when a transcoder (a voice format converter) sits in the bearer path; initial and trailing lost audio permitted | No more than 40 ms; 0 ms | 3GPP, TS 22.179 (MCPTT Stage 1) |
| Latest version of TS 22.179 | 21.0.0, uploaded October 2, 2026 (Release 21) | 3GPP, Specification Portal 2026 |
Context note: the 300 ms access time and 300 ms mouth-to-ear targets are separate budgets. A system can meet one and miss the other, which is why NIST measures them independently (see section 2).
2. Measured Performance: Lab and Testbed Results Against the 300 ms Bar
The best public measurement still comes from NIST PSCR, and it is encouraging. In initial testing of an LTE MCPTT system, access delay was 103.9 ± 4.1 ms with a 95% level of confidence, at NIST’s 85% raw intelligibility threshold (the point at which the test speech is judged understandable). In the same report, P25 trunked Phase 2 radio showed 601.9 ms of mouth-to-ear latency unencrypted, twice the 3GPP broadband target (601.9 / 300 = 2.0, our arithmetic). In other words, the broadband standard asks for faster voice delivery than trunked digital radio achieved in NIST’s own lab series.
Independent testbeds are more cautious. A 2019 IEEE Access study modeling MCPTT over LTE concluded that a current LTE network “is not yet able to guarantee the compliance with the KPIs defined by 3GPP under any circumstances”, and in one of its scenarios only access time (KPI 1) missed the 300 ms bar. A 2025 Fraunhofer FOKUS and TU Berlin proof of concept running open-source MCPTT on a private 5G network reported initial results that did not fully satisfy the defined limits. MCPTT rides on the same LTE and 5G voice architecture that carries consumer calls, a rollout tracked in our VoLTE and VoNR deployment statistics. The NIST numbers are in NIST IR 8328, and the LTE modeling study is the IEEE Access paper by Sanchoyerto et al..
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| LTE MCPTT access delay, initial test at 85% raw intelligibility (95% confidence interval) | 103.9 ± 4.1 ms | NIST PSCR, NIST IR 8328 2020 |
| P25 direct mode (radio to radio, no network), unencrypted: access delay vs mouth-to-ear latency | 126.9 ± 8.8 ms vs 243.3 ± 0.3 ms | NIST PSCR, NIST IR 8328 2020 |
| P25 trunked Phase 2, unencrypted: access delay vs mouth-to-ear latency | 655.1 ± 6.3 ms vs 601.9 ± 16.1 ms | NIST PSCR, NIST IR 8328 2020 |
| P25 trunked Phase 2, encrypted: end-to-end access time | 1337.3 ± 28.0 ms | NIST PSCR, NIST IR 8328 2020 |
| Access delay added by switching on encryption in P25 systems | 30-50 ms | NIST PSCR, NIST IR 8328 2020 |
| LTE packet delay budget for MCPTT traffic, control plane vs user plane (voice) | 60 ms vs 75 ms | Sanchoyerto et al., IEEE Access 2019 |
| Expected latency reduction from hosting MCPTT at the network edge (MEC), modeled, each way | At least 40% | Sanchoyerto et al., IEEE Access 2019 |
| Minimum group size used as the 3GPP scalability benchmark in a 5G capacity study | 2000 MCPTT users within an MCPTT group | Santiago et al., IEEE Access 2024 |
Context note: NIST’s LTE figure comes from its initial LTE MCPTT testing in a lab setup, so it is a proof that the target is reachable, not a field average. Most recent available data: NIST PSCR, 2020. The measurement method itself dates to NIST IR 8206 (2018), and capacity limits per cell are analyzed in the IEEE Access 5G capacity study.
3. FirstNet Scale and Coverage: Connections, Footprint and Indoor Reach
FirstNet is the U.S. nationwide public safety broadband network, built by AT&T under a 25-year contract with the FirstNet Authority on 20 MHz of dedicated Band 14 spectrum (a 700 MHz block reserved for public safety). Connections rose from about 7 million in March 2025 to nearly 8 million by February 2026, a gain of roughly 1 million in about 11 months (our arithmetic from two rounded figures). Growth is no longer only about subscribers: the money is shifting toward coverage depth, indoors and in rural areas.
Coverage is the selling point for push-to-talk users, because a talkgroup is only as good as its weakest signal. The FirstNet Authority Annual Report FY2025 puts the footprint above 2.99 million square miles; against the 3.8 million square miles of total U.S. area cited by RCR Wireless, that is about 79% (2.99 / 3.8, our arithmetic). The detail on tribal lands and new sites comes from AT&T’s February 2026 House testimony. On the dispatch side of the same voice chain, see our 911 text and voice dispatch statistics.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| FirstNet connections, March 2025 vs February 2026 | About 7 million vs nearly 8 million | RCR Wireless reporting AT&T data 2025; AT&T, House Energy and Commerce testimony 2026 |
| FirstNet network coverage, fiscal year 2025 | More than 2.99 million square miles | FirstNet Authority, Annual Report FY2025 |
| Terrestrial wireless coverage added in the year to March 2025 | 20,000 square miles | RCR Wireless reporting AT&T data 2025 |
| Increase in FirstNet coverage on tribal lands across the United States | More than 64% | AT&T, House Energy and Commerce testimony 2026 (vendor-reported) |
| FirstNet tower sites launched in rural and tribal areas in the initial build vs additional Band 14 sites committed over 2 years | 2,000 vs 1,000 | AT&T, House Energy and Commerce testimony 2026 (vendor-reported) |
| Indoor coverage units delivered to primary public safety agencies, and indoor area covered | 5,546 units, up to approximately 85 million square feet | FirstNet Authority, Annual Report FY2025 |
Context note: a connection is a device line, not a person, so the count is not a measure of responders using push-to-talk. FirstNet’s first standards-based push-to-talk service was announced in March 2020 as the first nationwide mission-critical standards-based PTT solution in the U.S., according to the FirstNet Authority; we found no public count of MCPTT users since.
4. FirstNet Under Load: Disasters, Priority Access and the Money Behind It
Latency targets assume a calm network; disasters are where they get tested. The FirstNet Authority FY2025 report counts over 2,600 temporary coverage solutions triaged and deployed in fiscal 2025, backed by a fleet of over 190 deployables (portable cell sites brought in when fixed towers are down or overloaded). Hurricane Helene alone produced 217 requests for emergency support. When towers fail, broadband push-to-talk is only as available as these stopgaps make it, so the deployable fleet matters as much as the 300 ms targets in section 1.
Priority access is the other half of the story. During one event in Butler, Pennsylvania, AT&T says more than 1,200 instances of First Priority (FirstNet’s feature that moves responders ahead of commercial traffic) safeguarded critical calls, and over 11,000 voice and data sessions were completed in a single hour. Long-term funding hinges on Congress: the FirstNet Authority sunsets on February 22, 2027 without action, and H.R. 7386, which passed the House in April 2026, would extend it through September 2037. Warnings to the public run on a separate track, covered in our emergency alert accessibility statistics.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| FirstNet deployable fleet vs temporary coverage solutions triaged and deployed, fiscal year 2025 | Over 190 vs over 2,600 | FirstNet Authority, Annual Report FY2025 |
| Hurricane Helene: requests for emergency support vs agencies served by dedicated deployables | 217 vs 66 | FirstNet Authority, Annual Report FY2025 |
| Texas Hill Country floods, July 2025: support requests vs assets deployed | 24 vs 36 | FirstNet Authority, Annual Report FY2025 |
| Butler, Pennsylvania event: First Priority instances vs voice and data sessions in one hour | More than 1,200 vs over 11,000 | AT&T, House Energy and Commerce testimony 2026 (vendor-reported) |
| Statutory FirstNet allocation from auction proceeds vs AT&T capital invested to date vs AT&T capital expected over the contract | $6.5 billion vs more than $14 billion vs approximately $40 billion | AT&T, House Energy and Commerce testimony 2026 |
| FirstNet Authority cash balance on September 30, 2025, and AT&T payment in fiscal 2025 | $682 million and $420 million | FirstNet Authority, Annual Report FY2025 |
Context note: AT&T’s testimony puts Hurricanes Helene and Milton together at more than 260 emergency requests, which matches the Authority’s separate counts of 217 (Helene) and 48 (Milton), a total of 265 (our arithmetic).
5. UK Emergency Services Network: Budget, Options and the Airwave Overhang
The UK is replacing its Airwave TETRA radio network with a 4G mission-critical service, the Emergency Services Network (ESN). The Home Office’s 2025 Programme Business Case summary, issued in July 2026, sets a whole life budget of 19.1 billion pounds to 2043/44, with 6.1 billion pounds already spent. Its preferred option, continuing ESN, costs slightly less in present value than stopping ESN and keeping Airwave to 2043/44, and returns far higher benefits.
The comparison is less about building a new network than about the cost of keeping the old one alive. Legacy Airwave costs fall from about 8.1 billion pounds under the stop option to about 1.9 billion pounds if ESN continues. The National Audit Office warned in 2023 that keeping Airwave into the 2030s would cost at least 250 million pounds a year, and that planning permission was still needed for 42 of 292 remote area sites (masts built to extend coverage into rural Britain). Neither document gives a firm Airwave switch-off date; the business case says only that it will close “when it is safe to do so”. See the NAO progress report press release.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| ESN whole life budget to 2043/44 vs spent to date | 19.1 billion pounds vs 6.1 billion pounds | Home Office, ESMCP 2025 Programme Business Case Summary (2026) |
| Total cost, present value: stop ESN and keep Airwave to 2043/44 vs continue ESN | 9.47 billion pounds vs 9.35 billion pounds | Home Office, ESMCP 2025 Programme Business Case Summary (2026) |
| Legacy Airwave costs: stop ESN option vs continue ESN option | About 8.1 billion pounds vs about 1.9 billion pounds | Home Office, ESMCP 2025 Programme Business Case Summary (2026) |
| Total benefits, present value: stop ESN vs continue ESN (net present social value of continuing, relative to baseline) | 1.73 billion pounds vs 4.62 billion pounds (3.00 billion pounds) | Home Office, ESMCP 2025 Programme Business Case Summary (2026) |
| Optimism bias allowance (extra cost added for the usual underestimate): stop ESN vs continue ESN | About 8% vs about 12% of total cost | Home Office, ESMCP 2025 Programme Business Case Summary (2026) |
| Spent maintaining Airwave by March 2023 vs cost of keeping it into the 2030s | 2.9 billion pounds vs at least 250 million pounds a year | National Audit Office, Progress with delivering the ESN 2023 |
| Remote area sites still needing planning permission, 2023 | 42 of 292 | National Audit Office, Progress with delivering the ESN 2023 |
| Airwave turn-off date: original plan, first extension, second extension | 2020, 2022, 2026 (later still expected) | National Audit Office, Progress with delivering the ESN 2023 |
Context note: the business case extends the Mobile Services contract with EE (BT) through to 2031, and the Competition and Markets Authority charge control on Airwave pricing ends in 2029. The NAO figures date from March 2023 and are the most recent available audit data.
6. South Korea, Finland and France: How Other MCX Networks Compare
Outside the U.S. and UK, three national builds show three models. South Korea’s Safe-Net, a nationwide PS-LTE (public safety LTE) network, launched in May 2021 at a total cost of approximately 1.1 billion US dollars, on dedicated 718-728 MHz and 773-783 MHz bands, with three operation centers in Seoul, Daegu and Jeju. Finland took a different route: Virve 2 is built on a commercial operator’s 4G and 5G radio access network, and its service area covers approximately 95% of the country’s land area.
Adoption is the slow part everywhere. Finland’s legacy TETRA-based Virve still grew to almost 60,000 subscriptions in 2025, while Virve 2 broadband subscribers number one fifth of that base, and about half of them use the group voice service. France’s Réseau Radio du Futur (RRF) finished a test phase with 800 agents in late 2025 and targets 300,000 users by 2027. Sources: the APEC submission by Korea, the Erillisverkot Annual Report 2025, the Erillisverkot Strategy and Business Review 2025, Erillisverkot on Virve 2 coverage and Acteurs Publics on the RRF.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| South Korea Safe-Net total cost | Approximately 1.1 billion US dollars | Korea, APEC SDMOF submission 2025 |
| South Korea Safe-Net frequency bands | 718-728 MHz and 773-783 MHz | Korea, APEC SDMOF submission 2025 |
| South Korea Safe-Net terminals in use at the May 2021 opening vs planned by end of 2021 | About 90,000 vs more than 150,000 | Asia Economy, reporting the Ministry of the Interior and Safety opening ceremony 2021 |
| Finland Virve (TETRA) subscriptions, end of 2025 vs 2024 | Almost 60,000 vs almost 55,000 | Erillisverkot, Annual Report 2025 |
| Finland Virve 2 broadband subscribers as a share of legacy Virve subscribers, and share using the group voice service | One fifth; about half | Erillisverkot, Strategy and Business Review 2025 |
| Finland Virve 2 service area, July 2025 | Approximately 95% of Finland’s land area | Erillisverkot, Virve 2 ready for deployment 2025 |
| France RRF: agents in the test phase (June to November 19, 2025) vs users targeted by 2027 | 800 vs 300,000 | Acteurs Publics, reporting Acmoss and the Ministry of the Interior 2025 |
Context note: the Korean terminal counts date from May 2021 and are the most recent available figures we could verify; we found no official 2025 count of Safe-Net terminals or user agencies. Erillisverkot also granted a permanent Virve licence to 21 new organisations in 2025, and its revenue rose to 129 million euros (Erillisverkot, Annual Report 2025).
7. Interoperability Testing: ETSI MCX Plugtests Results
Standards only help if products from different vendors work together, and ETSI’s MCX Plugtests (week-long multi-vendor interoperability test events) are the public scoreboard. The 10th event, held May 18-22, 2026 in Sophia Antipolis, reached a 92% interoperability success rate across 356 tests in 112 test sessions, with more than 240 participants. The 9th event, hosted by Texas A&M in February 2025, scored 83.3%: 145 of 174 test executions passed.
The trend line looks like a decline from the 97.6% of 2021, but the events are not like for like. Earlier editions counted executed use cases in the thousands, while recent ones report a few hundred test executions on newer 3GPP releases (Release 18 in 2025, Releases 18 and 19 in 2026, per the 3GPP MCX page). The test specification itself keeps growing, from 402 test cases in 2025 to 466 in 2026, which means more features to break. Reports: the 9th MCX Plugtests Report, ETSI’s 10th Plugtests announcement, and the 8th, 7th and 6th event releases.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 10th MCX Plugtests, May 2026: success rate, tests, test sessions, participants | 92%; 356 tests; 112 sessions; more than 240 participants | ETSI, 10th MCX Plugtests Report announcement 2026 |
| 9th MCX Plugtests, February 2025: success rate (passed of executed), test sessions, people involved | 83.3% (145 of 174); 146 sessions; 221 people | ETSI, 9th MCX Plugtests Report 2025 |
| 9th MCX Plugtests: application server vendors vs client vendors vs remote labs connected | 17 vs 20 vs 29 | ETSI, 9th MCX Plugtests Report 2025 |
| 8th MCX Plugtests, November 2023 (3GPP Release 17): success rate, use cases executed, delegates and vendors | 95%; over 1,500; more than 180 | ETSI, 8th MCX Plugtests announcement 2023 |
| 7th MCX Plugtests, December 2022 (3GPP Release 17): success rate, use cases executed, delegates and vendors | 96.0%; over 1,200; more than 150 | ETSI, 7th MCX Plugtests announcement 2022 |
| 6th MCX Plugtests, December 2021 (3GPP Release 16): success rate, test cases, test sessions, participants | 97.6%; around 1,300; 205; 150 | ETSI, 6th MCX Plugtests announcement 2021 |
| Test cases in the ETSI MCX test specification, 2025 vs 2026 | 402 vs 466 | ETSI, 9th MCX Plugtests Report 2025; ETSI, 10th MCX Plugtests announcement 2026 |
Context note: the 6th and 7th event figures are older than three years. Most recent available data for those editions: ETSI, 2021 and 2022.
Summary: Mission-Critical Push-to-Talk by the Numbers
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| MCPTT access time target (KPI 1): standard calls vs emergency and imminent peril calls | Under 300 ms for 95% vs 99% of requests | 3GPP, TS 22.179 |
| Mouth-to-ear latency target (KPI 3) | Under 300 ms for 95% of voice bursts | 3GPP, TS 22.179 |
| LTE MCPTT access delay, initial NIST test | 103.9 ± 4.1 ms | NIST PSCR, NIST IR 8328 2020 |
| P25 trunked Phase 2 mouth-to-ear latency, unencrypted | 601.9 ± 16.1 ms | NIST PSCR, NIST IR 8328 2020 |
| Minimum MCPTT group size used as a scalability benchmark | 2000 users | Santiago et al., IEEE Access 2024 |
| FirstNet connections, February 2026 | Nearly 8 million | AT&T, House Energy and Commerce testimony 2026 |
| Temporary coverage solutions deployed, fiscal year 2025 | Over 2,600 | FirstNet Authority, Annual Report FY2025 |
| AT&T capital expected over the FirstNet contract | Approximately $40 billion | AT&T, House Energy and Commerce testimony 2026 |
| UK ESN whole life budget to 2043/44 | 19.1 billion pounds | Home Office, ESMCP 2025 Programme Business Case Summary (2026) |
| UK ESN spent to date | 6.1 billion pounds | Home Office, ESMCP 2025 Programme Business Case Summary (2026) |
| South Korea Safe-Net total cost | Approximately 1.1 billion US dollars | Korea, APEC SDMOF submission 2025 |
| Finland Virve 2 service area | Approximately 95% of land area | Erillisverkot, Virve 2 ready for deployment 2025 |
| Finland Virve subscriptions, end of 2025 | Almost 60,000 | Erillisverkot, Annual Report 2025 |
| France RRF users targeted by 2027 | 300,000 | Acteurs Publics, reporting the Ministry of the Interior 2025 |
| ETSI 10th MCX Plugtests success rate | 92% | ETSI, 10th MCX Plugtests announcement 2026 |
| ETSI 9th MCX Plugtests success rate | 83.3% | ETSI, 9th MCX Plugtests Report 2025 |
Methodology and Sources
- 3GPP, TS 22.179 Mission Critical Push to Talk (MCPTT); Stage 1, specification page: KPI definitions and targets (read in the Release 20 text) and version history.
- NIST PSCR, NIST IR 8328: Mission Critical Voice QoE Access Time Measurement Method Addendum (2020): access delay, mouth-to-ear latency and end-to-end access time for P25 and LTE MCPTT.
- NIST PSCR, NIST IR 8206: Mission Critical Voice QoE Mouth-to-Ear Latency Measurement Methods (2018): measurement method.
- Sanchoyerto, Solozabal, Blanco and Liberal, IEEE Access 2019: Analysis of the Impact of the Evolution Toward 5G Architectures on MCPTT Services: LTE delay budgets and KPI compliance modeling.
- Santiago, Diaz de Cerio, Sanchoyerto and Liberal, IEEE Access 2024: Analysis of Mission Critical Services RAN Capacity Limitations over 5G: scalability benchmark and per-cell capacity analysis.
- Kara, Modroiu, Corici and Magedanz (Fraunhofer FOKUS and TU Berlin), Proof-of-Concept Implementation of Mission Critical Push-to-Talk Services in Private 5G Networks, ACM workshop proceedings 2025 (DOI 10.1145/3750718.3750745): open-source private 5G MCPTT results.
- FirstNet Authority, Annual Report to Congress FY2025 (published July 2026): coverage, indoor units, deployables, disaster support, financials and reauthorization status.
- AT&T FirstNet president, testimony to the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee, February 4, 2026: connections, sites, priority use and investment (vendor testimony).
- RCR Wireless, FirstNet subscribers and coverage (March 31, 2025): March 2025 connections and coverage growth, reporting AT&T data.
- FirstNet Authority blog, Voice communications are a fundamental need for public safety (May 2020): FirstNet PTT launch.
- UK Home Office, ESMCP 2025 Programme Business Case Summary (deposited July 2026): whole life budget, options appraisal and contract extensions.
- National Audit Office, Progress with delivering the Emergency Services Network (March 2023): Airwave costs, remote sites and switch-off history.
- Korea, Korean Master Plan for Disaster and Safety Management Technology Development, APEC SDMOF (2025): Safe-Net cost, spectrum and timeline.
- Asia Economy, Safe-Net opening ceremony report (May 14, 2021): Safe-Net terminal counts.
- Erillisverkot, Annual Report 2025, Strategy and Business Review 2025 and Virve 2 ready for deployment (July 2025): Finnish subscriptions, adoption and coverage.
- Acteurs Publics, Le Réseau radio du futur du ministère de l’Intérieur enfin sur pied (November 28, 2025): RRF test phase and 2027 user target, reporting Acmoss and the Ministry of the Interior.
- 3GPP, Mission Critical Services (MCX) technology page (2026): 3GPP releases targeted by recent Plugtests.
- ETSI, 9th MCX Plugtests Report (2025), 10th Plugtests announcement (July 2026), 8th (2023), 7th (2022) and 6th (2021): interoperability results.
- Data watch: no public body has published field-measured MCPTT access time or mouth-to-ear latency for FirstNet or any national network, so the latency section relies on NIST’s 2020 lab work and academic testbeds; NIST’s LTE result comes from initial lab testing only, and the P25 values come from the report’s results table, where each end-to-end access time equals access delay plus mouth-to-ear latency. FirstNet connection counts come from AT&T (about 7 million in March 2025, nearly 8 million in February 2026) and count devices, not responders; AT&T’s testimony says the footprint spans nearly 3 million square miles while the FirstNet Authority reports more than 2.99 million, which are consistent. The UK business case’s 6.1 billion pounds spent to date is not directly comparable with the NAO’s 2023 split of just under 2 billion pounds on ESN and 2.9 billion pounds on Airwave, because the business case does not break the figure down. ETSI changed how it counts tests between editions (use cases in the thousands up to 2023, a few hundred test executions since 2025), so success rates are not a clean time series. Korean figures date from 2021 to 2025 and no official current terminal count was found. The FirstNet Authority’s reauthorization (sunset February 22, 2027) and the House-passed H.R. 7386 could change the funding picture within months.
Last updated: October 24, 2026. We update this roundup quarterly, and the next refresh is expected when AT&T reports its fourth-quarter 2026 results and ETSI publishes the report from its next MCX Plugtests.