Share the spectrum wealth — please

Like many sectors, utilities have long coveted dedicated spectrum that could be leveraged to meet their communications needs, and the nationwide push toward smart-grid systems only has increased that need, as monitoring and machine-to-machine transmissions have become more commonplace. So far, utilities have had little reason to hope that suitable spectrum will be allocated to the sector for wide-area use, but several possibilities to share airwaves with other users likely will be considered during 2011.

Brett Kilbourne, director of regulatory services and associate counsel for the Utilities Telecom Council (UTC), said that the primary focus of his organization has been on the 1800-1830 MHz band, which is reserved for utility usage in Canada and is allocated in the U.S. to federal energy entities. Sharing this spectrum with federal organizations would enhance communications between related entities and help increase the spectral efficiency in the band, which could be required in an era when the FCC and NTIA are seeking additional airwaves and asking all licensees to justify their operations, he said.

Another potential option is partnering with public safety in the 700 MHz band, because utilities covet the long-range and in-building propagation characteristics of spectrum below 1 GHz, Kilbourne said. Such a partnership has been advocated by many in the wireless industry, because utilities have similar reliability requirements as first-responder agencies and have tower assets even in remote locations that commercial carriers would not consider serving.

In addition, one of public safety's major hurdles in deploying LTE broadband networks nationwide is funding. While there is hope that Congress will supply at least $10 billion for the effort, more funds likely will be needed for both the buildout and ongoing operations of the networks. Having utilities as customers on the proposed 700 MHz networks could provide a source of ongoing revenue, give public safety access to the considerable energy-related grant programs for capital funds, and dramatically increase the number of users on the system, which would drive better economies of scale — and cheaper prices — for devices and other equipment.

But there are several issues that would have to be addressed before such partnerships could become reality.

For instance, there is some question as to whether a 700 MHz partnership between public safety and utilities would be legal. Most Beltway sources contend that the 700 MHz broadband spectrum licensed to the Public Safety Spectrum Trust (PSST) can be used only by public-safety entities, so making the airwaves available to utilities would not be an option without action from Congress. However, UTC officials note that a clause that allows private-sector EMS providers to use public-safety spectrum also could apply to utilities, ergo, the FCC has the discretion to allow such partnerships, if it wants.

Kilbourne also expressed concern that language in some proposed legislation would mandate that public-safety traffic be prioritized in all cases, which would make potential 700 MHz partnerships much less attractive to utilities, which are seeking assured communications paths for their mission-critical smart-grid applications.

However, if Congress reallocates the D Block to public safety, many industry observers believe that such legislation would grant public-safety entities the latitude to give users from other government and critical-infrastructure entities access to the 700 MHz networks.

Assuming that the legal issues can be resolved, the question of whether partnerships between utilities and public safety would make economic sense must be answered. If public safety only has access to the 10 MHz of PSST-held spectrum, some industry experts believe that first-responder usage could drain the capacity of the network — particularly in urban areas — so a partnership with utilities would not make sense. But reallocation of the D Block to public safety would increase spectral flexibility significantly, making such an arrangement much more practical for both public safety and utilities.

Kilbourne acknowledged that public-safety officials could have a difficult time continuing to make a case that first responders need the D Block spectrum while simultaneously advocating the sharing of spectrum with utilities or other critical-infrastructure entities.

“They're afraid that, if they were to say, ‘Let's go ahead and share,’ the FCC would interpret that as, ‘[Public safety] already has enough spectrum as it is; they don't need the D Block,’ Kilbourne said. “That's a delicate balance.”

— Donny Jackson