**Priority Communication for Reporters and Medical Staff During Major Fires and Complex Disasters**
(Seoul=Yonhap News) Reporter Park Hyung-bin – On the 10th, the “Emergency Rescue Priority Transmission Service” officially launched, ensuring that firefighters have priority communication even when networks are congested due to large fires or complex disasters.
The Ministry of Science and ICT announced that, along with the Fire Department and the three major mobile carriers, the emergency rescue priority transmission service has begun.
The core of this service is to ensure that communications among firefighters, callers, and emergency medical guidance doctors are prioritized, even if there’s a surge in communication demand at disaster scenes.
The three carriers will apply a dedicated USIM (Universal Subscriber Identity Module) to firefighters’ devices, distinct from regular subscribers, to ensure that relevant signals are prioritized during network congestion.
This service began as a proposal from LG Uplus to the Fire Department as part of a social contribution project. Subsequently, SK Telecom and KT joined, and the three carriers progressed from technical validation to commercialization.
The current network neutrality guidelines generally require equal treatment of internet traffic. However, if certain conditions, such as limited use and separate quality management, are met, it is permitted to classify it as a special service and allow priority transmission.
According to the Ministry of Science and ICT, this is the first instance since the 2011 guideline establishment that a case has been recognized for meeting the special service conditions.
Major countries like the United States, Germany, and Japan already operate emergency rescue priority transmission systems in the public safety sector, ensuring priority communication quality for rescue workers.
The Ministry of Science and ICT explained that this service operates separately from the PS-LTE disaster safety network that supports communication among disaster safety agencies such as the Fire Department, and it facilitates calls between firefighters and the general public or medical staff.
Furthermore, with the nationwide 5G standalone network setup by the three carriers expected to be completed by the end of this year, officials anticipate that ensuring tailored quality for each institution and user will become easier, further advancing public safety communication services, including emergency rescue communications.