TELUS launches Broadband Push-to-Talk (PTT) service with ESChat as its technology partner

News provided by

Apr 28, 2020, 07:00 ET

ESChat completes service integration with TELUS, offering next-generation Broadband Push-to-Talk service to business and government customers

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif., April 28, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- ESChat today announced the launch of ESChat broadband Push-to-Talk (PTT) service on the TELUS wireless network. The companies completed a commercial contract in May of 2019, and have been in soft-launch with a number of marquee customers since late 2018. Over the past year, the ESChat and TELUS teams have been adding customers and testing new features. With carrier integration and soft-launch now complete, the ESChat solution is commercially available for TELUS business and government customers.

TELUS will invoice customers on their monthly wireless bill, and its Customer Care team will handle Tier-1 customer support. TELUS has had a very successful soft-launch over the past twelve months, and today's announcement coincides with ESChat's general availability on the Network. The TELUS PTT offering is priced at C$7.50 per month, and includes Secure Push-to-Talk, Live Location Tracking and Mapping and Secure Group Multimedia Messaging. TELUS offers historical bread crumb tracking for an additional C$2.50 per month.

TELUS has been a leading provider of PTT communications in Canada since 1996, when it began offering its 'Mike' PTT service. 'Mike' was powered by iDEN technology, the same narrowband technology that powered Nextel in the United States. Broadband PTT service supports a host of features and capabilities not available in narrowband LMR and wireless carrier PTT services. TELUS' selection of ESChat provides the company with a proven and full featured PTT offering.

"ESChat Push-to-Talk harnesses the power of fast interaction and interoperability to make professional group communication secure and reliable for our customers" said Marshall Berkin, Vice-President National Business Solutions for TELUS. "Through our collaboration with ESChat, we're helping businesses empower their mobile workforces while driving agility and cost savings."

"TELUS has a solid reputation as a PTT service provider in Canada. We are pleased they have selected ESChat for their next generation of PTT service," said Josh Lober, President and CEO, ESChat. "ESChat is the leading provider of secure broadband PTT service in North America. With the launch of ESChat, TELUS is positioned for continued growth throughout its markets."

Used by all branches of the U.S. Military, as well as federal, state and local public safety agencies, ESChat is able to operate over and across any wireless network, including all commercial carriers, private 3G/4G/5G networks and WiFi. ESChat supports standards-based interoperability with LMR radio networks, including P25 via the native Inter RF Subsystem Interface ("ISSI") protocol and DMR via the native Inter Application Interface Specification ("AIS") protocol. ESChat also supports interoperability via RoIP to all LMR radio networks, regardless of radio technology or operating frequency band.

About ESChat:
ESChat (www.eschat.com) is the leading solution for carrier independent Secure Push to Talk (PTT) over LTE communications. ESChat includes AES-256 encrypted PTT voice and multimedia (text and image) messaging. ESChat also provides live and historical (bread crumb) tracking and mapping. ESChat is approved for U.S. military operational use by the Defense Information Systems Agency ("DISA"). ESChat is a FirstNet Certified™ solution, and enhanced by Quality of Service, Priority and Preemption ("QPP") available to FirstNet subscribers. ESChat also supports Quality of Service ("QoS") and RAN priority enhancements on the Verizon Wireless and AT&T commercial networks.

For more information, please visit www.eschat.com.

SOURCE ESChat