Commercial service providers – Keep an eye on the basic plan
Commercial service providers include paging carriers, trunked radio system operators (the only real SMRs left) and, of course, Nextel – the firm we still love to hate. The key to success for public safety communications managers is keeping the available communications services and products in a balance that is determined by the unique needs of each individual agency. Private radio has enjoyed a long success in public safety for its benefits that are “intuitively obvious to the casual observer” and based on one simple (sort of ) fact: Private radio is the baseline of communications service on which an agency can certainly, definitely, totally and consistently rely. Carrier services are convenient, possibly even useful – occasionally even cost-effective (a government malapropism) – but suspected of never really being ultimately reliable.
It’s this doubt (and occasional mistrust) about a profit-driven technical venture that causes concern within the public safety community. The truth is that the needs of public safety often merge well with carrier services. Because “regular” carrier customers operate with, more or less, statistically averaged channel and feature usage, the interleaved public safety “emergency” traffic receives perfectly adequate handling. Only the affected, service-consuming agency can determine the cost-benefit value of the service – but subscriptions are steadily growing.
So why not completely “privatize” a department’s communications system? To be sure, the direct costs and regulatory impediments of owning and maintaining a private system are rising. We have seen that user equipment for digital network-based systems can cost $4,500 for each portable or mobile radio. About the only cost not rising is for conventional radio sets.
A financial case can also be readily made for privatization. The only conclusion I have drawn is that system managers and Radioman still stubbornly rely on the basic premise and stability of system ownership and control. In most cases, the systems aren’t even fancy. And even the fancy ones aren’t modern by consumer standards: no wireless Internet, no duplex communications or caller ID (typically not even an interconnect) and no wide-area roaming. But the systems do occupy a place in the spectrum for the “conduct of official activities of the applicant,” typically to the exclusion of non-essential traffic. So even with an ironclad service contract, we still trust ourselves more than service providers.
What’s the best way for public safety to continue to provide adequate system services for itself? Public safety managers need to meet regularly with Radioman (either in-house or private shop staffs) and discuss, frankly and coldly, the facts and options of constantly evolving local needs. While turning an eye to future needs, don’t forget the basic elements of your communications services plan. Take a moment and schedule the meeting today.
