What’s in a name? For FirstNet, “public-safety entity” definition to critical to system planning, business model
It should be noted that an organization that is deemed to be a public-safety entity may not be a public-safety entity at all times. Each of these entities listed above also use communications to support non-public-safety functions. A smart-grid service that allows residential utility customers to remotely alter the thermostat in their homes may be convenient, but it is not a public-safety function, so it should be considered a secondary use.
Similar scenarios can be cited for all of these entities, including the traditional public-safety groups of police, fire and EMS. When communicating during an incident response, a police chief unquestionably is a public-safety entity deserving of priority on the FirstNet system. However, if the chief is demonstrating how communications work to a group of schoolchildren—a worthy endeavor, but not really a public-safety function—prioritization should not be maintained.
In other words, a flexible framework is needed when determining who is a public-safety entity, because the status theoretically could change at a moment’s notice.
By allowing a broader range of prioritized users—defined as public-safety entities—to include these critical-infrastructure groups, FirstNet would have the opportunity to forge a level of interoperability that the first-responder community and elected officials have sought for years.
In addition to the operational implications, a broader definition of public-safety entity also could have a huge potential impact on the economic viability of the proposed FirstNet system.
For instance, if utilities could be assured that their most critical applications—the ones that determine whether the power grid will work or not (and don’t happen to require a lot of bandwidth)—would be given priority access and would not be preempted, they likely would jump at the chance to partner with FirstNet and bring some valuable assets to the table. Utilities don’t have many broadband spectrum options today, but they likely will not consider a partnership without such an assurance. A similar statement could be made for other critical-infrastructure players.
If priority network access is limited strictly to police, fire and EMS, that’s only about 3 million users, which is not a lot of scale compared to commercial networks that support more than 100 million users. Without such economies of scale, coverage could be spotty, user fees may be higher and devices may not be as affordable as public-safety officials envisioned when making the choice to have this network utilize LTE, a commercial broadband technology.
However, if the critical-infrastructure groups are added to the mix, the number of potential users on the network grows dramatically, which creates the economies of scale that can support a more reliable, robust network at a cost that is affordable to public safety. In addition, having more users on a network means FirstNet could establish more LTE sites, which makes it more attractive to secondary-use partners—a potentially critical revenue component for the business model.