https://urgentcomm.com/wp-content/themes/ucm_child/assets/images/logo/footer-logo.png
  • Home
  • News
  • Multimedia
    • Back
    • Multimedia
    • Video
    • Podcasts
    • Galleries
  • Commentary
    • Back
    • Commentary
    • Urgent Matters
    • View From The Top
    • All Things IWCE
    • Legal Matters
  • Resources
    • Back
    • Resources
    • Events
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
    • Reprints & Reuse
  • IWCE
    • Back
    • IWCE
    • Conference
    • Special Events
    • Exhibitor Listings
    • Premier Partners
    • Floor Plan
    • Exhibiting Information
    • Register for IWCE
  • About Us
    • Back
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
    • Terms of Service
    • Privacy Statement
    • Cookies Policy
  • Related Sites
    • Back
    • American City & County
    • IWCE
    • Light Reading
    • IOT World Today
    • Mission Critical Technologies
    • Microwave/RF
    • T&D World
    • TU-Auto
  • In the field
    • Back
    • In the field
    • Broadband Push-to-X
    • Internet of Things
    • Project 25
    • Public-Safety Broadband/FirstNet
    • Virtual/Augmented Reality
    • Land Mobile Radio
    • Long Term Evolution (LTE)
    • Applications
    • Drones/Robots
    • IoT/Smart X
    • Software
    • Subscriber Devices
    • Video
  • Call Center/Command
    • Back
    • Call Center/Command
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • NG911
    • Alerting Systems
    • Analytics
    • Dispatch/Call-taking
    • Incident Command/Situational Awareness
    • Tracking, Monitoring & Control
  • Network Tech
    • Back
    • Network Tech
    • Interoperability
    • LMR 100
    • LMR 200
    • Backhaul
    • Deployables
    • Power
    • Tower & Site
    • Wireless Networks
    • Coverage/Interference
    • Security
    • System Design
    • System Installation
    • System Operation
    • Test & Measurement
  • Operations
    • Back
    • Operations
    • Critical Infrastructure
    • Enterprise
    • Federal Government/Military
    • Public Safety
    • State & Local Government
    • Training
  • Regulations
    • Back
    • Regulations
    • Narrowbanding
    • T-Band
    • Rebanding
    • TV White Spaces
    • None
    • Funding
    • Policy
    • Regional Coordination
    • Standards
  • Organizations
    • Back
    • Organizations
    • AASHTO
    • APCO
    • DHS
    • DMR Association
    • ETA
    • EWA
    • FCC
    • IWCE
    • NASEMSO
    • NATE
    • NXDN Forum
    • NENA
    • NIST/PSCR
    • NPSTC
    • NTIA/FirstNet
    • P25 TIG
    • TETRA + CCA
    • UTC
Urgent Communications
  • NEWSLETTER
  • Home
  • News
  • Multimedia
    • Back
    • Video
    • Podcasts
    • Galleries
  • Commentary
    • Back
    • All Things IWCE
    • Urgent Matters
    • View From The Top
    • Legal Matters
  • Resources
    • Back
    • Events
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
    • Reprints & Reuse
    • UC eZines
  • IWCE
    • Back
    • Conference
    • WHY ATTEND
    • Exhibitor Listings
    • Floor Plan
    • Exhibiting Information
    • Registration Opens April 2019-Join Our Mailing List
  • About Us
    • Back
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
    • Terms of Service
    • Privacy Statement
    • Cookies Policy
  • Related Sites
    • Back
    • American City & County
    • IWCE
    • Light Reading
    • IOT World Today
    • TU-Auto
  • newsletter
  • In the field
    • Back
    • Internet of Things
    • Broadband Push-to-X
    • Project 25
    • Public-Safety Broadband/FirstNet
    • Virtual/Augmented Reality
    • Land Mobile Radio
    • Long Term Evolution (LTE)
    • Applications
    • Drones/Robots
    • IoT/Smart X
    • Software
    • Subscriber Devices
    • Video
  • Call Center/Command
    • Back
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • NG911
    • Alerting Systems
    • Analytics
    • Dispatch/Call-taking
    • Incident Command/Situational Awareness
    • Tracking, Monitoring & Control
  • Network Tech
    • Back
    • Cybersecurity
    • Interoperability
    • LMR 100
    • LMR 200
    • Backhaul
    • Deployables
    • Power
    • Tower & Site
    • Wireless Networks
    • Coverage/Interference
    • Security
    • System Design
    • System Installation
    • System Operation
    • Test & Measurement
  • Operations
    • Back
    • Critical Infrastructure
    • Enterprise
    • Federal Government/Military
    • Public Safety
    • State & Local Government
    • Training
  • Regulations
    • Back
    • Narrowbanding
    • T-Band
    • Rebanding
    • TV White Spaces
    • None
    • Funding
    • Policy
    • Regional Coordination
    • Standards
  • Organizations
    • Back
    • AASHTO
    • APCO
    • DHS
    • DMR Association
    • ETA
    • EWA
    • FCC
    • IWCE
    • NASEMSO
    • NATE
    • NXDN Forum
    • NENA
    • NIST/PSCR
    • NPSTC
    • NTIA/FirstNet
    • P25 TIG
    • TETRA + CCA
    • UTC
acc.com

Project 25


Commentary

Why isn’t P25 right for utilities?

Why isn’t P25 right for utilities?

I've written about the wireless telecom industry for more than 13 years now, both on the commercial and public-safety/industrial side. What I find refreshing about the latter community is its straight-shooter mentality.
  • Written by Urgent Communications Administrator
  • 18th February 2009

I’ve written about the wireless telecom industry for more than 13 years now, both on the commercial and public-safety/industrial side. What I find refreshing about the latter community is its straight-shooter mentality. While commercial operators and vendors are usually shrouded in marketing speak and spin, those public-safety and industrial users are willing to tell it like it is.

I suppose that’s why I like Jill Lyon, vice president and general counsel of the Utilities Telecom Council (UTC). I recently interviewed her about the UTC’s interest in the European TETRA trunked radio technology. The UTC and the American Petroleum Institute (API) have asked the TETRA Association about its potential use in their industries. However, TETRA is barred from North America because key patent holders—namely Motorola—won’t license it here.

“We keep looking to TETRA, but we can’t have it. And being Americans, that ticks us off,” she said.

She and others in the industrial market say Project 25 just isn’t suitable for their industries, and the other proprietary technology choices aren’t either. These technologies are too expensive since handsets are in the several thousand-dollar range. Moreover, P25 is—or has the perception of being—exclusively focused on public safety. I wonder why that has to be the case.

I realize the P25 standard originally was developed for public safety, while TETRA cast a wider net and targeted both public safety and other trunked radio opportunities, but can’t the industry find a way to create a scaled down version of P25 to target the industrial market? Wouldn’t that help the economies of scale that don’t seem to be budging?

And couldn’t public-safety and utilities work hand-in-hand to have some collective buying power and shared network rollouts? Again, Lyon tells it like she sees it: Public-safety has shown no interest in working with the utility industry on P25.

“They have been exclusionary. Talks about interoperability never include us,” she said. “You might find utilities participating in a shared system on the local level, especially if it’s a municipal utility, but on the national level, we don’t see that encouraged.”

To be fair, some interoperability is supposed to be an important element of the proposed nationwide public/private shared network in the 700 MHz band. The Public Safety Spectrum Trust (PSST)—the nationwide licensee to the 10 MHz swath of public-safety broadband spectrum in the band that would be paired with 10 MHz of commercial 700 MHz spectrum (the D Block) to form the spectral backbone for this network—has worked to ensure that there is some room for so-called critical infrastructure, in order to allow for interoperable communications between public safety and utilities. But that doesn’t solve the immediate need.

What do you think? Tell us in the comment box below.

Tags: TETRA Utility Commentary Newsletters Critical Infrastructure Land Mobile Radio Project 25 Public Safety TETRA + CCA UTC Commentary

Related


  • Spectrum coordinators initiate submittal of new T-Band applications
    Spectrum coordinators last week submitted applications to expand land-mobile-radio (LMR) systems operating on T-Band spectrum (470-512 MHz) into a queue, with applications expected to be submitted formally to the FCC beginning next month and continuing through June, according to people familiar with the process. Both public-safety and enterprise incumbent licensees operating T-Band radio systems were […]
  • Hiding in plain sight: What the SolarWinds attack revealed about efficacy
    If ever there was something to ruin Christmas in the cybersecurity industry, it’s a devastating data breach that is on track to becoming the largest cyberespionage event affecting the US government on record. The SolarWinds attack is far reaching, with threat actors having initially breached the software as early as mid-2019. This months-long heist was discovered in December […]
  • AT&T says FirstNet Band 14 buildout more than 90% done, adoption tops 2 million connections
    AT&T has completed more than 90% of the buildout of its contracted FirstNet coverage using 700 MHz Band 14 spectrum “well ahead of schedule,” and the nationwide public-safety broadband network (NPSBN) supports more than 2 million connection, the carrier giant announced today. AT&T added almost 100,000 square miles of coverage to its network during 2020, […]
  • Ransomware? Let's call it what it really is: extortionware
    Just as the targets of these attacks have shifted from individuals to corporations, so too has the narrow focus given way to applying force and pressure to pay. No one needs reminding that ransomware has reached incredible proportions; one widely reported statistic from Purplesec suggests that $20 billion was paid out in 2020. That’s almost double its […]

Leave a comment Cancel reply

To leave a comment login with your Urgent Comms account:

Log in with your Urgent Comms account

Or alternatively provide your name, email address below:

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Content

  • Hi-tech sewer can help safeguard public health, environment and economies
  • In the 5G race to space, Lynk takes the lead against SpaceMobile
  • FCC initiates proceeding, strike force to halt 911 fee diversion
  • The benefits and challenges of IT-OT convergence

Commentary


Ransomware? Let’s call it what it really is: extortionware

21st February 2021

Redefining communications for today’s mobile workforces

18th February 2021

Hi-tech sewer can help safeguard public health, environment and economies

18th February 2021
view all

Events


UC Ezines


IWCE 2019 Wrap Up

13th May 2019
view all

Twitter


UrgentComm

Newscan: Klobuchar calls on Congress to get serious on tech reform dlvr.it/RtqByn

2nd March 2021
UrgentComm

The era of converged network infrastructure has officially begun dlvr.it/Rtmq62

2nd March 2021
UrgentComm

Biden to follow through on Trump-era China tech ban dlvr.it/Rtmlgt

2nd March 2021
UrgentComm

Hytera, Motorola Solutions DMR royalty dispute to be decided by federal judge dlvr.it/Rthqp3

1st March 2021
UrgentComm

Using data to improve emergency response resources in healthcare arena dlvr.it/RtYfFJ

26th February 2021
UrgentComm

3 security flaws in devices and IoT that need fixing dlvr.it/RtYRxm

26th February 2021
UrgentComm

Newscan: America’s creaky payment infrastructure is showing cracks dlvr.it/RtTzBD

25th February 2021
UrgentComm

California PD: ‘Game-changing’ Live911 streaming of emergency calls accelerates responses dlvr.it/RtPgXS

24th February 2021

Newsletter

Sign up for UrgentComm’s newsletters to receive regular news and information updates about Communications and Technology.

Expert Commentary

Learn from experts about the latest technology in automation, machine-learning, big data and cybersecurity.

Business Media

Find the latest videos and media from the market leaders.

Media Kit and Advertising

Want to reach our digital and print audiences? Learn more here.

DISCOVER MORE FROM INFORMA TECH

  • American City & County
  • IWCE
  • Light Reading
  • IOT World Today
  • Mission Critical Technologies
  • Microwave/RF
  • T&D World
  • TU-Auto

WORKING WITH US

  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Events
  • Careers

FOLLOW Urgent Comms ON SOCIAL

  • Privacy
  • CCPA: “Do Not Sell My Data”
  • Cookies Policy
  • Terms
Copyright © 2021 Informa PLC. Informa PLC is registered in England and Wales with company number 8860726 whose registered and Head office is 5 Howick Place, London, SW1P 1WG.
This website uses cookies, including third party ones, to allow for analysis of how people use our website in order to improve your experience and our services. By continuing to use our website, you agree to the use of such cookies. Click here for more information on our Cookie Policy and Privacy Policy.
X