Public Sector

Public sector organisations rely on 4G and 5G to connect the people, vehicles and devices that sit outside the reach of fixed lines. That covers remote and temporary sites, mobile workers in the field, connected vehicles, CCTV, telecare and a growing estate of IoT sensors — smart street lighting, traffic management, air quality and flood monitoring, and building telemetry. Mobile is also widely used as resilient failover for fixed broadband at critical sites.

At Jola we sit behind all of this as a managed mobile data provider. We supply the SIMs, give teams full control and visibility through our Mobile Manager portal, and — where the data is sensitive or business-critical — we keep it off the public internet using a Private APN, so traffic terminates directly inside the organisation’s own network rather than crossing the open web.

Emergency services depend on connectivity that works wherever an incident happens, not just where infrastructure is convenient. Crews need real-time access to dispatch systems, mapping, records and video the moment they arrive on scene, often in locations with no fixed connectivity or where local networks are congested during a major incident.

Two things matter above all: resilience and security. Resilience because a single network dropping out cannot be allowed to take a unit offline — which is why we deploy multi-network SIMs that automatically move to the strongest available network. Security because the data involved is highly sensitive. Our Private APN and VPN Concentrator services let emergency services connect devices straight into their closed network over 4G and 5G, with no exposure to the public internet at any point.

Ambulances are effectively mobile treatment and data centres. 4G SIMs in the vehicle’s mobile data terminals connect the crew to computer-aided dispatch, navigation and live incident updates, while electronic patient record systems capture clinical information on the move. Increasingly, crews send vitals, ECGs and patient details ahead to the receiving hospital so the emergency department is ready before the ambulance arrives.

Forces use mobile data to put the control room in the officer’s hand. In-vehicle systems and rugged tablets give access to national and force databases, digital pocket notebooks and mapping; ANPR cameras and body-worn video generate and upload evidential footage; and live location keeps the control room aware of where units are.

Because this is some of the most sensitive data any organisation handles, the connectivity has to be locked down. We deliver police mobile data over a Private APN so devices operate on a closed, private network with no route to or from the public interne. Multi-network SIMs ensure officers stay connected across the full patrol area.

Public sector bodies handle personal, medical and operational data that carries real consequences if it is intercepted or exposed, and they do so under strict obligations — data protection law, NHS security standards and public sector network principles among them. A standard mobile SIM sends its traffic across the open internet, which is neither appropriate nor compliant for that kind of data.

Secure mobile connectivity closes that gap. Our Private APN service places devices on an isolated, private network so their traffic never touches the public internet and terminates inside a controlled environment. For organisations that need devices to appear as though they are physically on the corporate LAN, our VPN Concentrator brings them directly into the closed network over an encrypted tunnel across 4G and 5G. Together they shrink the attack surface and keep sensitive data within a boundary the organisation controls.

Jola is a UK mobile data specialist. We aggregate the major networks and layer our own management, security and support on top, so public sector teams get connectivity that is genuinely fit for the field rather than a repurposed consumer product.

In practice that means multi-network SIMs for coverage and resilience; Private APNs for secure, closed-network operation; a VPN Concentrator for bringing devices straight into your own environment over cellular; and our Mobile Manager portal for live control of every SIM — usage, spend, provisioning and diagnostics — in one place. We also offer pooled data to smooth out unpredictable usage and Device-as-a-Service where organisations would rather consume the hardware and connectivity as a managed package. It is all backed by UK-based technical support, which matters when the connectivity is doing a critical job.

Push-to-talk over 4G (often called PTT or MCPTT) delivers instant, walkie-talkie-style group voice over the mobile data network instead of a traditional two-way radio system such as TETRA. Users press a button on a smartphone or rugged device and speak to an individual or a whole team immediately, with the advantage of national cellular coverage and the ability to carry data, location and video alongside the voice.

For public sector and emergency services teams it removes the cost and coverage limits of dedicated radio infrastructure and fits neatly with the wider shift toward cellular-based critical communications. It does, however, depend entirely on reliable, resilient connectivity — which is exactly where our multi-network SIMs and Private APN come in, providing the coverage PTT needs and keeping that communication on a secure, closed network.

A multi-network SIM can connect to more than one UK mobile network and automatically selects the best available signal, rather than being locked to a single operator like a standard consumer SIM. If one network is weak, congested or down, the SIM moves to another without manual intervention.

For the public sector this is about coverage and resilience. Devices in vehicles, on remote sites or at the scene of an incident cannot afford to fail because one operator has a coverage gap or an outage. Our multi-network SIMs are managed centrally through Mobile Manager and combine directly with our Private APN, so an organisation gets the best of both worlds: the widest possible reach across the networks, delivered securely into its own closed environment.