Verizon Frontline survey shows first responders are optimistic about 5G, AI

The majority of public safety professionals consider AI a top priority, but see 5G as the most impactful technology, reveals Verizon survey

The fourth iteration of Verizon Frontline’s survey of nearly 1,700 public safety professionals revealed that network reliability and resiliency are a top priority. While it likely comes as no surprise that emergency responders value these characteristics, the survey did offer additional insight into how — if at all — this group believes that the latest tech trends like 5G and AI are contributing to more reliable communications.

First, as just mentioned, 65% of first responders identified a reliable and resilient network as the most important factor in day-to-day communications, compared to 51% last year. This consideration far surpasses the second place answer, interoperability with surrounding jurisdictions, which captured 11% of the votes. For 30% of respondents, 5G connectivity offers an additional boon to network reliability and is its most important benefit. Further, 66% said they see 5G as a “top priority” or “important.”

Sixty-four percent of respondents said they worry most about an unreliable network, followed closely by lack of coverage (62%) and lack of interoperability (47%).

AI is only being used today by a small percentage (14%) of public safety agencies, according to the report. However, 75% of respondents consider AI and smart solutions to be important and/or a top priority in the future. Specifically, they believe that the most valuable AI use cases for public safety agencies are optimizing resource allocation (24%), enhancing situational awareness (23%) and improving early warning systems (20%).

Despite the clear interested in AI and smart solutions, when asked what technology they think will be most important to the future of public safety, most respondents said 5G (39%) and only 18% said AI/smart solutions, which came in behind deployable network assets (22%).

Additional takeaways from the report include a diminishing confidence in preparedness from a technology standpoint for both natural disasters and the threat of cyberattacks. The latest survey shows that 60% of respondents felt prepared for natural disasters, down from 69% last year. Similarly, more than a third, or 34%, of respondents this year felt “somewhat unprepared” or “neutral” about preparedness for a cyberattack. Two years ago, noted Verizon, only a quarter of respondents felt this way.

“Every day, for more than three decades, we’ve been working hand-in-hand with first responders and public safety agencies on the front lines so we can continue to meet their highly unique mission-critical communications needs,” said Massimo Peselli, the chief revenue officer of global enterprise and public sector for Verizon Business.