Why this week’s FCC meeting matters to publc safety

In the case of broadband, most Americans have multiple options to receive high-speed data: cable providers, phone providers, satellite providers and broadband wireless providers. Admittedly, there are less-populated areas that have no broadband options other than satellite, but the fact that multiple options exist in most places undermine the notion of a making broadband a regulated utility.

But the fact that broadband is being considered as a utility should be seen as an encouraging sign to public safety, because it reinforces the notion that broadband should be ubiquitous throughout the country, just as electric service is today. The FCC already has taken a big step in that direction by revamping the universal-service fund program to support broadband deployments instead of copper-based connectivity.

Of course, to offer broadband throughout the U.S. means that robust fiber and microwave links need to exist in virtually all locations. For public safety, that would mean the kind of broadband backhaul connectivity needed to make initiatives like FirstNet and next-generation 911 a reality would exist in even rural locations that economically don’t justify a free-market broadband investment.

Finally, the combination of these items promise to help shape the competitive broadband landscape, which will impact the type of partnerships that FirstNet can negotiate in a shared-capacity arrangement, which is expected to be a key component of the ultimate FirstNet business plan. The FCC’s actions on Thursday could help determine just how attractive partnering with FirstNet might be, which promises to impact the overall economics of much-anticipated nationwide broadband network for first responders.