NextNav Aims for Safe Drone-dominant Future with GSMA and Industry Partners

NextNav will collaborate in drone ecosystem for safe, trusted, scalable drone operations in expanding market

RESTON, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--NextNav Inc. (Nasdaq: NN), a leader in next-generation terrestrial positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) and 3D geolocation solutions, today announced it has joined GSMA and industry partners in an industry-first call to action bringing together leaders from telecommunications, aviation, security, and drone operations to help shape the future for safer drone airspaces.

The Joint Requirements Statement, developed through the GSMA Fusion initiative, sets out how mobile networks and programmable network capabilities can support safe, trusted, and scalable drone operations as the market grows.

“NextNav supports American drone dominance and looks forward to partnering with GSMA and industry partners to ensure safe drone airspaces,” said Deepak Joseph, NextNav’s Vice President of Product Management. “Resilient, accurate 3D PNT technology enabled by mobile networks is critical for airspace safety, including navigation. NextNav is committed to improving the availability and continuity of low-altitude 3D positioning, delivering widescale horizontal and vertical location information to support unmanned aircraft systems operations in a growing commercial market.”

The statement outlines how mobile networks can evolve to play a strategic role in enabling trusted low altitude aviation through several capabilities, including secure positioning and geolocation and resilient multi-layer connectivity through terrestrial networks. It further highlights the growing urgency for industry alignment as governments, regulators, and aviation authorities worldwide accelerate work on beyond visual line of sight drone operations, drone first responder programs, autonomous aviation systems, and future passenger carrying eVTOL aircraft.

With nearly 20 years of PNT technology development, NextNav is prepared to rapidly deliver dual-use capabilities that directly support President Trump’s drone dominance objectives. Earlier this year, NextNav filed comments in the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) proceeding in support of President Trump’s national strategy of American drone dominance, discussing the role its 5G-powered 3D PNT and sensing solution could play in safe UAS operations.

“The drone market is scaling far faster than many of today’s airspace and identification frameworks were originally designed for,” said Barney Stinton, Market Development Lead, Aviation at GSMA Fusion. “This Joint Requirements Statement is an important signal from industry that mobile networks have a major role to play in supporting safe, trusted, and interoperable drone operations at scale.”

NextNav will continue to collaborate with other participants, including through discussions with additional aviation stakeholders, operators, regulators, and standards bodies. The Joint Requirements Statement will be presented through ongoing GSMA Fusion industry engagement activities.

About NextNav

NextNav Inc. (Nasdaq: NN) is a leader in next-generation 3D Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) solutions. As the nation’s largest license holder in a spectrum band expressly designated for terrestrial positioning services, NextNav is uniquely positioned to enable a widescale terrestrial complement and backup to GPS. Leveraging licensed low-band spectrum and the global 5G ecosystem, NextNav is focused on delivering an accurate, reliable, and resilient 3D PNT solution to protect national security, public safety, and the economy. Learn more at www.nextnav.com.

For more information, please visit https://nextnav.com/ or follow NextNav on X at https://x.com/NextNav or LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/nextnav/.