NextNav 2025: A Year of Progress Toward PNT Resiliency & Commercialization

In 2025, conversations around GPS vulnerability moved from theoretical to an urgent call-to-action. Across public safety, national security, and critical infrastructure, the message is clear: GPS alone is not enough. This year, industry leaders, policymakers, and first responders increasingly aligned around the need for resilient, layered positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) systems.

Throughout the year, NextNav worked alongside public safety professionals, government leaders, and technology partners to advance real-world solutions. By pairing independent validation, policy leadership, and engineering breakthroughs, the company helped ensure PNT resiliency becomes a reality, not just a talking point.

Advancing Evidence-Based Policy for PNT Resiliency
In parallel with industry engagement and thought leadership, 2025 was a significant year for policy and regulatory progress. NextNav supported a growing body of engineering and economic analysis aimed at moving PNT resiliency from discussion to action.

Key efforts included:

• Comprehensive spectrum coexistence and economic studies validating compatibility in the lower 900 MHz band. - read it here
• A bipartisan national poll demonstrated overwhelming support for building a ground-based backup to GPS. - read it here
• Public safety and national security experts filed with the FCC to underscore the operational risks of inaction. - read it here
• A tolling operations coexistence study filed with the FCC, finding that 5G-powered 3D PNT in the Lower 900 MHz band would impose minimal costs related to licensed tolling operations, limited to potential retuning of a subset of tolling operators' toll readers. - read it here

These efforts reflect a shared commitment to fact-based policymaking and to ensuring that public safety and national security needs remain central to the conversation.

Technology Milestones Highlighting Validation and Momentum
2025 also marked meaningful progress on the technology front, as NextNav continued advancing its 5G-powered 3D PNT solution on a path to commercialization.

Notable milestones included:

• A 5G PRS-based PNT demonstration validating secure, terrestrial positioning capabilities. - read it here
• Successful z-axis accuracy testing at the Washington Monument, showcasing precise vertical location performance. - read it here
• A major commercialization milestone for NextNav's 5G PRS-based 3D PNT solution with standard 5G network equipment. - read it here
• The launch of operations for the world's first 5G-powered 3D PNT network, reinforcing NextNav's leadership in delivering scalable, terrestrial PNT. - read it here

These milestones reinforced that resilient PNT is achievable today.

Key Events
In 2025, NextNav maintained a strong presence at major global and national forums, engaging directly with the communities affected by PNT disruptions and those shaping policies that will define the future.

At Mobile World Congress Barcelona, we joined global wireless leaders to discuss spectrum, 5G, and the role of terrestrial PNT as a complement and backup to GPS. These conversations continued at MWC Las Vegas, where attendees explored how resilient PNT solutions can support critical infrastructure and commercial applications.

Closer to the front lines, NextNav participated in key public safety gatherings including IWCE and APCO, where conversations centered on first responder safety, indoor location accuracy, and the operational realities faced by incident commanders. These discussions culminated in the First Responder Indoor Tracking Summit, a pivotal event that united public safety leaders and policymakers around a shared call to action: the technology exists today and the time to act is now.

Beyond industry events, NextNav joined national leaders on Capitol Hill for the Race to Resiliency. From the Department of Defense to the Federal Communications Commission and Congress, officials reinforced the urgent need to address GPS vulnerabilities at the policy level. There was strong agreement that PNT resilience is essential to national security and the protection of American lives.

A Clear Message Through NextNav's Thought Leaders
Thought leadership was instrumental in advancing the conversation on PNT resilience in 2025. NextNav leaders and trusted national security voices helped articulate why solving this issue was both a national security and public safety imperative.

Our CEO, Mariam Sorond, published multiple Forbes Technology Council articles highlighting the race to PNT resiliency, the limitations of GPS-only systems, and the urgent need for a terrestrial backup. These articles helped bring greater visibility to the policy, spectrum, and security implications of PNT disruptions.

Additional perspectives throughout the year included:

• Renee Gregory discussing PNT resilience and regulatory considerations at Broadband Breakfast
• Rear Admiral Howard Selby (Ret.) contributing a national security perspective in The Washington Times
• Rob Clark amplifying the public safety voice through the IAFC TV podcast, focusing on responder accountability and indoor tracking challenges

Strengthening Leadership and Partnerships

In 2025, the company welcomed Renee Gregory as Vice President of Regulatory Affairs and Tim Gray as Chief Financial Officer. NextNav also announced new board members, Rear Admiral H. Wyman Howard (ret.) and Rear Admiral Lorin Selby (ret.), bringing extensive military and national security leadership to the team.

Partnerships continued to play a central role, including collaborations with:

• FirstDue, bringing vertical location and 3D visualization capabilities to first responders
• North Central Texas 9-1-1, supporting telecommunicators with enhanced 3D location data and visualization
• Oscilloquartz, successfully integrating 5G-powered timing for critical infrastructure applications
• Metcom, advancing commercial 5G-powered 3D PNT Solution in Japan

Together, these relationships reflect a growing ecosystem committed to resilient, interoperable PNT solutions.

Looking Ahead
As we look to the year ahead, the momentum from 2025 sets the stage for an important next chapter. With increasing alignment across public safety, industry, and policymakers, the focus now shifts to continued validation, decisive action, and commercial readiness.

NextNav remains committed to working alongside its partners to advance a resilient, terrestrial 3D PNT solution that protect lives, strengthen infrastructure, and safeguard national security. The urgency is clear, and the path forward has never been more defined. The time for action is now.