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• Public Sector

By Natasha Lomas, 15 June 2009 13:10

NEWS

"Emergency services are not delivered from an office environment sat behind a desk. They're delivered on the street and not just the high street - they're delivered from remote areas, in extreme conditions, we're mobilised 24/7 365 in all sorts of conditions whether it be weather, storm, flood, snow," Olaf Baars, the deputy chief fire officer and president of civil contingency members association, Bapco, told the Westminster eForum keynote seminar last week. "The expectation is we can operate in all of them."

But can they? UK consumers may have a range of UK mobile broadband networks to choose from to fulfil their data needs, the emergency services don't have the same luxury.

The communications network used by the emergency services - supplied by Airwave using Tetra technology - is primarily a voice network, so while it allows emergency services and other public safety agencies to talk to each other, data sharing is a much more complex proposition.

While some data applications, such as fingerprint scanning could theoretically be performed over Tetra, those that require higher bandwidth are not viable.

Airwave CEO Richard Bobbett told silicon.com in an exclusive interview: "We are never going to push much beyond a GPRS-type throughput on our packet data channel. If you want a moving video - a high quality moving video image - even at GPRS-type speeds, you're not going to get that."

Despite the questions over Airwave's data capacity, Nick Deyes, head of information and communications development at the National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA), told delegates at the forum that around 450 public safety agencies now use Airwave, "all of whom I'm sure would have increasing requirements for data communications".

Bapco's Baars also echoed the need for better data connectivity, saying: "The ability to access information is critical to everybody... What we need is a portfolio of technologies that allows for us to operate in today's world, 24/7, on a day to day environment."

The growing appetite for data is posing questions about whether existing network infrastructure is fit for purpose, according to the NPIA's Deyes. It is also pitting emergency services against money-makers in a mismatched spectrum tug-of-war.

"Demand for spectrum continues to increase and there is a tension there between the public services requirement and commercial requirement," he said. "[Spectrum] is very valuable stuff… so we have to put a very compelling case to the Treasury to make further spectrum available to support the emergency services and the public sector."

As it stands, telecoms regulator Ofcom auctions available spectrum on the open market - a procedure that requires public sector bodies to compete with commercial bidders.

Also speaking at the forum, Jacqui Brookes, CEO of comms trade association the Federation of Communications Services, suggested spectrum allocation should prioritise the emergency services, critical national infrastructure and mission critical comms such as utilities companies over and above commercial uses.

"That's the way it should be," she said. "Why should there be a level playing field for non-commercial users with commercial companies?"

The NPIA's Deyes described the current spectrum acquisition process as "quite challenging" for the public sector.

"The Olympics is a case in point - we have a few thousand additional officers required in the East End of London to make sure the policing of the Olympics is safe and the event passes off safely. How do we acquire that additional capacity to support a significant increase in the density of emergency services in one place for three weeks? We're getting there - but it's been quite a challenging journey to work through that."

According to Deyes, one way the emergency services could act to keep up with demand for mobile data is by increasing network sharing with commercial mobile operators - an option he said the NPIA is exploring.

"If we don't need [data] to be secure, confidential then we will look to make better use of the commercial networks," he said. "But I can't see anything but an increase [in demand] over the next few years for spectrum."

Bapco's Baars added that a scalable spectrum resource that can quickly increase capacity during a major incident is top of the emergency services' wish-list.

The case for needing streamed video is less certain in his view - however he pointed out that public safety services do already tap into an existing source of this: "Even in the emergency services we access real-time streamed video by going to Sky News - because they're always there as quick as we are and they've got broadcast-quality spectrum."

Professor Martin Cave, the director of the Centre for Management under Regulation at the University of Warwick, and the man chosen by the government to conduct an independent audit of the UK's spectrum holdings aimed at improving spectrum management in the public sector, also spoke at the forum.

Cave's report, published in 2005, was the blueprint for today's market-based spectrum management regime where public bodies with a surfeit of spectrum can sell or lease it, while those with a shortfall have to "go into the market" to acquire it.

"It's quite a complex process," admitted Cave. "Unless plans have been made well in advance and revenues acquired to affect the necessary purchase there's going to be a problem [for public bodies seeking to acquire spectrum]."

However he pointed out there is a contingency built in to the system as public sector bodies can make an appeal direct to government and get the spectrum that way if they can show they have a definite need for it that can't be satisfied on the market and that there's no other means for them to provide those services.

"Before we've actually used the mechanism I think it's premature to write off the process," he added.