FCC White Paper Analyzes Public Safety Broadband Costs

The article below should be of interest to persons in public safety. Related subject materials from the FCC are also below. Also the Seybold article is attached.

http://radioresourcemag.com/newsArticle.cfm?news_id=5545
FCC White Paper Analyzes Public-Safety Broadband Costs (4/26/10)
The commission released a white paper that offers a detailed analysis of how the FCC's plan for creating and funding a public-safety broadband network would meet public safety’s needs for accessibility, reliability and affordability. The white paper said the plan will save the nation about $18 billion or more in capital and operating expenditures during a 10-year period.
The study’s analysis shows that the FCC’s recommendation to capitalize on commercial network build out at the same time the public-safety network is created would cost about $6.5 billion over 10 years, significantly less than the projected $15.7 billion in capital costs associated with building a stand-alone public-safety network.

The FCC's analysis indicates that to build and operate a stand-alone public safety network would be substantially more expensive than a network constructed under the FCC’s recommended incentive-based approach. The study projects $12 billion to $16 billion in network costs for upgrades and operations within the first 10 years of the network’s existence, while the cost for a stand-alone public-safety network during the same 10-year period is projected at $25 billion.
“This study reaffirms that our plan offers the nation a common sense and practical path forward to building a nationwide interoperable public-safety network for America’s first responders,” said Jamie Barnett, chief of the FCC's Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau (PSHSB). “The time is now for us to move forward to ensure that we take advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to leverage commercial technology, resources and build out a network that reaches rural America. The FCC looks forward to working with public safety; our federal, state, local and tribal partners; and the communications industry to accomplish this priority.”

The FCC study examines the merits of the plan's strategy to create a nationwide interoperable public-safety wireless broadband network for first responders and other public-safety agencies that accounts for sufficient capacity on a day-to-day and emergency basis; ensures interoperability; and dedicates funding to the nationwide deployment of a resilient, redundant and robust network.

Some primary reasons the costs increase exponentially for a stand-alone public-safety network are the following:

1. Public safety would not be able to easily leverage commercial resources and technologies associated with the build out of the network.
2. Public safety could not capitalize on existing commercial cell sites and towers.
3. Public safety could not gain access to equipment, including portable radios, at commercially competitive prices.

Conversely, the FCC's plan for an incentive-based partnership to build the public-safety wireless broadband network would establish a public grant funding program to pay for capital and operating expenses and would build in incentives to enable public safety to leverage commercial technologies and resources.

The white paper is titled “A Broadband Network Cost Model: The Basis for Public Funding Essential to bringing Nationwide Interoperable Communications to America’s First Responders.” To view the full white paper study, please visit the FCC's home page at http://www.fcc.gov/.

4/23/10FCC Outlines Economically Viable Way to Build A Public Safety Broadband Network Across America.News Release: Word AcrobatReport: Acrobat

4/23/10FCC Establishes New Emergency Response Interoperability Center.News Release: Word AcrobatOrder: Word AcrobatBaker Statement: Word Acrobat

http://www.rcc.com/blog/files/SeyboldComments-FCCWP-042610.pdf