Timely Public Safety Actions on National Broadband Plan Expected

The FCC is moving fast on the public safety network and quick actions in areas like interoperability and the emergency communications system are expected, Public Safety Bureau officials said during an FCBA lunch Friday. The agency is also seeking to increase its involvement with cybersecurity and critical infrastructure survivability where it doesn’t have much of a track record, they said.

Having some kind of public funding to make sure the buildout of a nationwide pubic safety network will continue to be bureau Chief Jamie Barnett’s focus, he said. In addition, getting an Emergency Response Interoperability Center (ERIC) up and running would be one of the priorities, Barnett said. “We want to go fast on that” so the agency can act on some waiver petitions, he said. “These folks deserve an answer and we want to get that to them in early part of the summer,” he said. An order is on the eighth floor circulating now to establish ERIC, said Deputy Bureau Chief Jennifer Manner. Other than broadband, Barnett said he’s very interested in narrowbanding issues and hopes to move forward on that.

Everything is moving along, said Manner, saying the agency is moving fast on the national broadband public safety network. “We are doing our cost model” and the bureau hopes to release shortly a white paper detailing the numbers, she said. However, there’s concern that some equipment for the network might not be ready soon enough, she said. But everything is expected to progress with the coming of early builders, establishing ERIC, creating interoperability solutions and some public safety rulemaking, she said: “There is a logical progression."

Manner said the plan calls for $6.5 billion in capital expenditures over ten years, to be funded through federal grants. That includes 44,000 sites covering 99 percent of the U.S. population. The plan also includes $6-$10 billion over ten years for operating costs, which ramp up as the network expands to a peak of $1.3 billion per year, she said. It’s a great opportunity to partner with service providers as they build their next generation networks, she said.

Manner said the agency came up with an “incentive-based partnership” after the failed D-block auction. The three-pronged approach for creating the network includes an administrative system that enables public safety users to effectively use the public safety broadband spectrum but also provides access to additional capacity on a day-to-day and emergency basis, she said. She said she hopes the issue of roaming and priority access arrangements across commercial broadband networks at reasonable rates will be addressed soon. Ensuring LTE-based devices are reasonably priced is also an important goal, she said.

The FCC is getting more involved in cybersecurity and collecting information on the vulnerability of critical infrastructure, said Lisa Fowlkes, deputy chief of the Public Safety Bureau. The agency is looking at efforts including voluntary certification programs and cybersecurity reporting systems, she said. It’s looking at implications of having a next-generation alerting system and how broadband technology can enhance those systems and others, she said. The FCC is also looking to address how to get alert messages out via multiple platforms, something the FCC and FEMA have been discussing for a while, she said. Additionally, the agency is looking to clarify alert responsibilities among executive branches. There will be timetables and details on what actions should be taken, she said.

Other programs the agency is looking at include Project Roll Call, which would allow it to review spectrum before and after an event to see what’s operating and what’s down, said Tim Peterson, bureau chief of staff. The commission also has urged Congress to amend the Stafford Act to permit limited federal assistance during a disaster to private, for-profit entities to maintain or restore public safety-related communications during a disaster, he said. Jeff Cohen, bureau senior legal counsel, cited cost and regulatory challenges as major barriers to deploying next-generation 911 systems. Many state and local regulations hinder the ability to roll out the equipment, he said, saying the agency urged Congress to establish some regulatory framework. It’s as important to transition existing systems to the next generation as to deploy new systems, he said.