Helping You Stay Connected During COVID-19

Over 97% of the US population is currently under a stay-at-home or shelter-in-place order as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to change life as we know it. With the practice of safe social distancing and increase of teleworking, NB+C understands that staying connected is more important than ever.

With these changes, numerous sites are in exhaust of capacity, demonstrating a need to add carriers to offload the existing traffic for data purposes. As such, NB+C has been involved in several COVID-19 projects and initiatives for emergency capacity and coverage issues throughout our geographic footprint.

NB+C most recently assisted at Fort Indiantown Gap, an active National Guard Training Center that serves as the headquarters for the Pennsylvania Department of Military and Veterans Affairs and the Pennsylvania National Guard. It is the busiest Air National Guard training installation in the nation and supports COVID-19 relief efforts across the state. The post, located in Lebanon County, Pennsylvania, includes 18,000 acres (73 km2), with numerous ranges and training areas.

An immediate need for temporary emergency connectivity in areas within the post lacking coverage became apparent. Within two weeks, NB+C set up a COLT (Cell on Light Truck) and two temporary small cell sites on the base, providing coverage to meeting rooms and office spaces of high-ranking officials that previously had very limited coverage, if any. This enabled the wireless connectivity for essential operational calls and updates on internal projects.

Completing sites within a two-week timeframe is normally unheard of but has become necessary to ensure communications remain open and available during this pandemic. NB+C has been able to quickly alleviate capacity and coverage issues for these sites by fast-tracking through real estate, engineering, and construction management. Total collaboration and concise communication were vital both with clients and respective agencies to quickly meet these objectives while gaining FAA, regulatory, and EME approvals.

NB+C is proud to do its part in keeping the public connected and ensuring state and local officials can maintain communications as they work to protect communities, while preserving continuity of functions critical to public health and safety during this unprecedented time of need.