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PDV Vice Chairman Addresses What’s Next for Utilities Communication During Industry Webinar

WOODLAND PARK, N.J., December 8, 2014 – Morgan O’Brien, vice chairman of Pacific DataVision, Inc. (PDV), a leading provider of mobile workforce management solutions, participated in Urgent Communications’ webinar “What’s Next for Utilities Communication” on November 6 to address why wireless priority status is essential for utilities and why accessing the necessary spectrum remains a challenge.

During the webinar, Mr. O’Brien discussed PDV’s recent acquisition of Sprint’s nationwide 900 MHz licenses and its plans to petition the FCC to re-align the 900 MHz band for broadband while enabling incumbent licensees to maintain current operations if desired. The realignment would create broadband spectrum capable of serving the long-expressed needs of utilities, energy companies, transportation providers, and other large-scale business enterprises for broadband service specifically designed to their demanding specifications. Further, utilities and other critical infrastructure companies would have priority access to such broadband service.

“Pacific DataVision is committed to utilizing this spectrum to deliver our next-generation dispatch solution, which will be offered as an enhancement to the workforce management dispatch and mobile resource management solutions we have developed over the past decade,” said Mr. O’Brien. “When we acquired these frequencies, we took on an obligation just like every other licensee to use the spectrum in the most efficient way possible. We believe that repurposing and realigning the 900 MHz channels so that on one end of the spectrum there is a block for broadband and at the other end a block for narrowband achieves that goal. We recently filed a petition suggesting this to the FCC, with the rationale of providing a place in a prime frequency band where priority access on broadband for critical infrastructure would be guaranteed.”

Mr. O’Brien also pointed out that the utility industry now has a number of choices for how they might want to pursue broadband. “Everybody gets an advantage when they have choices, and another choice for critical infrastructure is a ‘built-to-suit’ private network. That is essentially what we are proposing: taking existing spectrum that we and the other incumbents already have and establishing at the FCC a process to realign users through re-tuning thus providing critical infrastructure with another choice.”

“What’s Next for Utilities Communication,” which can be accessed on demand at this link, offered valuable insights from three industry experts about the various options and challenges facing critical-infrastructure entities, with smart-grid technologies promising new levels of reliability, flexibility and functionality. Brett Kilbourne, VP, Government and Industry Affairs and Deputy General Counsel, UTC and Wendell Little, IT Communications Operations Department Manager at Con Edison, New York, joined Mr. O’Brien on the panel, and Donny Jackson, editor of Urgent Communications magazine, moderated.

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About Pacific DataVision, Inc.
Pacific DataVision is a recognized leader in mobile workforce communications and location based solutions that increase the productivity of field-based workers and the efficiency of their dispatch and call center operations. PDV will also be launching the largest private push-to-talk network in major markets throughout the United States. Its patented and industry-validated technology improves team communication and field documentation across a wide array of industries including transportation, distribution, construction, hospitality, waste management and field service. PDV’s Chairman, Brian McAuley and Vice Chairman, Morgan O’Brien, were co-founders of Nextel Communications and have over 60 years of experience in two-way radio operations and FCC regulatory matters. Pacific DataVision, Inc. is headquartered in Northern New Jersey. Learn more at www.pdvcorp.com.

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MEDIA CONTACT:
  Pacific DataVision
  Thor Harris
  201-206-0903
  tharris@percepture.com

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