LA County board approves revised LA-RICS public-safety LTE proposal

No LTE site locations included in the CAP are controlled by the Los Angeles City Council. However, the plan does note that coverage of the proposed LTE network would be bolstered notably, if the city allowed 19 Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) sites to be utilized in the system.

“The City of Los Angeles is evaluating the issues related to the LTE project and is working with their relevant stakeholders to discuss their concerns,” the plan states “Due to the unavailability of many stakeholders within the time period requested, the City of Los Angeles requested additional time in which to provide a detailed response and expects to have its response available by April 23, 2015.”

Mallon said some existing towers at fire stations need to be removed but declined to estimate how many. During the meeting, a staff member indicated that efforts would be made to see if the costs associated with removal of such towers could be funded with money from the BTOP grants.

Another key component of the new proposal is a revamped community-outreach effort, which includes separate approaches to inform affected parties about sites near residential neighborhoods and sites near commercial or mixed-use locations.

Big decisions about the new LA-RICS proposal need to be made quickly. NTIA administers the $154.6 million in federal Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) grant that is funding most of the proposed LA-RICS public-safety LTE network. But current law requires that BTOP funds be utilized by Sept. 30, meaning the deadline can be changed only by an act of Congress, according to an NTIA spokeswoman.

With this in mind, Los Angeles-area representatives will travel to Washington, D.C., next week to speak with federal lawmakers and officials to determine whether there is any way to give LA-RICS additional time to complete its project.

Mallon said he has not been given any indication when NTIA would make a decision about the suspension, but “they told us that they would do everything they could to expedite the process.”