A big voice in the Big Apple

While planning to build a 700 MHz broadband system could reduce these narrowbanding-related logistical challenges, the notion is fraught with significant political, financial and regulatory hurdles. The most notable of these is that the 700 MHz public-safety broadband spectrum is not licensed to the city of New York.

“First of all, [Dowd] doesn't have the spectrum,” said PSST Chairman Harlin McEwen. “He wants it and would like us to not have it, but he doesn't have it. The question is, ‘Will he ever get it?’ I don't think so, but that's neither here nor there. The point is, he doesn't have it.”

In addition, the 2013 narrowbanding deadline is still looming and NYPD currently is obligated to comply like other UHF licensees around the country. While Dowd would like to avoid spending money on narrowbanding and instead build a 700 MHz broadband system, many industry officials question whether equipment for long-term evolution (LTE) technology would be available in time for the agency to build a new network by 2013. LTE is the fourth-generation commercial standard that Dowd favors, although he has noted that NYPD would build to any interoperable standard that the FCC specifies

To address these issues, Dowd said he plans to make three requests to the new FCC, once it is in place:

1. Obtain permission to conduct a pilot program to demonstrate that public-safety-grade broadband voice can be done at 700 MHz;

2. Seek a waiver or extension on the narrowbanding deadline to pursue the pilot program and broadband buildout; and

3. Seek direct licensing of the public-safety broadband spectrum in New York City for the NYPD.

Should the FCC grant these requests, the rulings would send shockwaves throughout the public-safety communications industry. While large governmental entities such as the city of Seattle, the city of Boston and Cook County, Ill. — where Chicago is located — have expressed support for Dowd's direct-licensing approach, most in public safety believe a more comprehensive approach is the only way to bring broadband to rural areas that lack the resources to deploy such systems and the leverage to negotiate deals with a commercial partner.

“That's the problem,” said Charles Werner, fire chief for the city of Charlottesville, Va. “If we continue on that [direct-licensing] path, then we allow the divide between the haves and the have-nots to continue to be greater.”

Although he does not have a way to address this issue at the moment, Dowd said he plans to work with organizations such as the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) to develop a solution that could serve the needs of less-populous areas of the country.

“I know there have been stories that have said, ‘Well, New York is just looking out for New York,’” Dowd said. “That's not the case. Public safety is public safety — cops are cops, and firefighters are firefighters.

“We care just as much about cops in other places as we care about our own cops, and we want to see them have the same capabilities we have. They may not do it as often as we do, but when they have to do it in rural areas, it's the same kind of work, the same kind of risk and the same kind of criminals.”

As for the notion of getting an extension or waiver of the FCC's narrowbanding rules, many public-safety officials have expressed concern that granting such a request could undermine the narrowbanding effort in the U.S. But consultant Robert LeGrande — who led the construction of the first 700 MHz public-safety broadband network when he worked for the city of Washington, D.C. — said the potential of broadband voice “changes the game,” so the FCC should reconsider the need for narrowbanding.

“If you're in charge of a communications program, the first question you have to ask yourself is, ‘What problem are you solving? What can't you do today that you're going to be able to do tomorrow?’” LeGrande said.

“If the only answer is, ‘We're going to satisfy a rule,’ we won't dramatically increase interoperability, and we certainly won't increase our capabilities. That makes you wonder whether a whole-hearted, multimillion-dollar investment is the right answer, especially at a time when you have a dramatic evolutionary change in a communications environment.”