Downside risks of skyrocketing costs
We all have heard the news reports that federal, regional, state and municipal disaster response preparations and programs already are running well over budget estimates, while communications coordination planning and programs are lagging behind other action items on the priority agenda.
This is driving some to rethink emergency communications features and functions, even the APCO Project 25 standard, which was created to drive costs down by creating an environment with expanded choices.
Establishing the standard was a cooperative, organized group process based on the real needs of public-safety professionals in the field and involving manufacturers in the land mobile radio industry as well.
It was P25 that mandated the first step toward radio interoperability. Any manufacturer’s equipment in compliance with the P25 standard would have to be interoperable with any other manufacturer’s equipment also in compliance with the standard.
It was not easy for manufacturers to develop their own digital product technology in full compliance with the demanding specifications. It took time and considerable expertise, and some had to settle for licensing technology from another manufacturer.
But the fundamental requirement of interoperability of manufacturers’ equipment meeting the P25 standard has helped to level the playing field among manufacturers. With multiple choices for P25-compliant digital radio equipment, there is open cost competition, helping drive costs down.
Depending on volume, today a customer can buy three or more radios that meet the P25 standard for the cost of one of the highest-priced radios also compliant with the same standard.
That’s the advantage of a free economy and open competition.
If there is no competition, but rather a single source for equipment with exclusive features, then costs go higher, along with several other risks.
Such changes can jeopardize the infrastructure and investment in new radio equipment — including digital radios in compliance with the P25 standard — recently purchased by public-safety and emergency response agencies.
Realize the tremendous infrastructure and investment now in place in our nation. Hundreds of law enforcement, fire and EMS agencies across the land have their own licenses, their own radio equipment and network, and mobile and portable radios for professionals in the field.
If their communication devices double in price, or more, some agencies will be left behind, unable to afford membership in what I fear will become an exclusive club.
Such a scenario would undo all the progress our industry and public-safety communications professionals achieved with APCO Project 25. It would be a shame to see our combined efforts, our solutions, go to waste. APCO Project 25 is a promise we need to keep.
David P. Storey is president and CEO of RELM Wireless Corp., a manufacturer and marketer of mobile radio equipment for public-safety and government agencies, as well as business-band radios serving a wide range of commercial applications, for nearly six decades.
