SouthernLINC Wireless Achieves Narrowbanding Compliance Ahead of 2013 Deadline for Alabama Police Department

ATLANTA, Oct. 12, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The Police Department for the city of Clanton, Ala., has selected Push To Talk two-way radio (PTT) service from SouthernLINC Wireless, a Southern Company (NYSE: SO), to achieve compliance with the Federal Communications Commission's narrowbanding mandate. This mandate states that all non-federal public safety licensees using wideband 25 kilohertz radio systems must convert to narrowband 12.5 kHz channel systems no later than Jan. 1, 2013.

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Faced with limited time and a projected expenditure of more than a half-million dollars in order to bring his department's outdated, conventional radio system into compliance with this FCC mandate, Clanton Police Department Chief Brian Stilwell was at a communications and financial crossroads.

"Earlier this year, I jokingly told our SouthernLINC Wireless representative that I wished they could handle all of my department's radio needs," said Stilwell. "My rep quickly took the ball and ran with it."

The SouthernLINC Wireless sales team put together a proposal to transfer the Clanton Police Department's primary dispatch operations from its wideband radio system to the SouthernLINC Wireless network.

"After looking at the numbers, it was an easy sell," continued Stilwell. "My department gets nationwide private PTT and regional group PTT service for a fraction of the price of upgrading the outdated, VHF radio system, and we don't have the added cost of maintaining the radio towers."

After receiving the City Council's approval for the full migration to SouthernLINC Wireless, Stilwell acquired a grant to pay for modifications to their 911 call center console and the additional lines of service and equipment.

"The Clanton Police Department more than doubled its lines of service with us, yet it was still far less costly than updating the department's obsolete, private radio system," said Rodney Johnson, vice president of sales and distribution for SouthernLINC Wireless. "Plus, the SouthernLINC Wireless network gives Chief Stilwell and his officers many additional communications capabilities that weren't possible with their conventional radio system. In particular, SouthernLINC Wireless delivers secure PTT two-way radio service, which no known scanner can intercept, and interoperability with other state and local agencies."

A SouthernLINC Wireless customer since October 1999, the Clanton Police Department is now exclusively using the carrier's PTT service for all radio communications, which satisfies the FCC narrowbanding directive more than a year in advance of the deadline.

"SouthernLINC Wireless has given me a cost-effective solution to my department's radio problems," Stilwell concludes. "I am sure we're not the only small, public safety agency that is facing the massive expense of a radio system upgrade, and I now know SouthernLINC Wireless can be the solution."

About SouthernLINC Wireless

SouthernLINC Wireless, a Southern Company (NYSE: SO), is an Atlanta-based regional wireless carrier with network coverage in the major metro and rural areas of Alabama, Georgia, southeast Mississippi and northwest Florida. SouthernLINC Wireless combines multiple communication options, including Push To Talk two-way radio (PTT), cellular service, wireless Internet access, wireless data, and text and picture messaging, into one hand-held device. In addition to regional network coverage, the company offers nationwide access through roaming agreements for cellular, PTT, data, and text and picture messaging services in more than 540 cities throughout the U.S. For more information, please call 1-800-818-LINC (5462) or visit www.southernlinc.com.

About Southern Company

With 4.4 million customers and more than 42,000 megawatts of generating capacity, Atlanta-based Southern Company (NYSE: SO) is the premier energy company serving the Southeast. A leading U.S. producer of electricity, Southern Company owns electric utilities in four states and a growing competitive generation company, as well as fiber optics and wireless communications. Southern Company brands are known for excellent customer service, high reliability and retail electric prices that are below the national average. Southern Company was named the World's Most Admired Electric and Gas Utility by Fortune magazine in 2011, and is consistently listed among the top U.S. electric service providers in customer satisfaction by the American Customer Satisfaction Index. Visit our website at www.southerncompany.com.

SOURCE SouthernLINC Wireless