A unique window of opportunity 

An opportunity not seen for 40 years could safeguard the availability of public safety services in Europe for the foreseeable future. Radio spectrum will become available across the continent as analogue broadcast television migrates to digital, in a release of bandwidth known as the Digital Dividend. Kenneth Carter, senior consultant at wik-Consult GmbH and co-author of a consultative study* on the potential of the Digital Dividend to public safety services, summarises the situation for TETRA News.

“The efficiency of the public safety services (PSS) relies entirely on the availability of sufficient bandwidth, which is a hugely valuable commodity – you can never be too good looking, too rich, or have too much bandwidth. But nor can a cost be placed on public safety service provision. It is the right of every individual to expect civil protection – and it is the duty of every government to provide it. Arguments are emerging that urge commercially operated PSS mission critical broadband networks or for PSS organisations to participate in spectrum auctions. However, our research shows that this is not a socially optimal approach. We need a cohesive approach to ensure that spectrum is available to PSS organisations for their mission critical needs.

As the broadband age progresses, it drives increased demand for communications services. While more efficient radio technologies afford greater access to the spectrum, the increased demand places even more pressure on the available spectral resources. But the difference between a slow Internet connection at home, and a delay in getting crucial information transmitted across a major incident scene, is literally that of life and death.

It is a fact that PSS systems are reaching the limit of their capacity. The Digital Dividend is one of the most important and far reaching opportunities for communications policy issues of the past decades, and even possibly for several more to come.

The message is beginning to be heard, but the decision to allocate sufficient spectrum to PSS must be made quickly. Lives in danger can’t wait to be saved – and mission critical broadband communications networks require long lead-times to plan and deploy.

The European Parliament’s Industry Committee has adopted an own-initiative report written by Italian MEP Patrizia Toia that urges the EU to essentially adopt a federal approach to radio frequency allocation. This would ensure a set of harmonised EU-wide rules. A plenary vote is scheduled to take place this month (September 08). The report reasons that around 100MHz of the Digital Dividend could be allocated to public safety services, road safety applications, mobile broadband and RFID without impacting the advance of broadcasting services.

The need for PSS spectrum allocation has never been greater, and the opportunity has never been more apposite. We must not lose this chance.”