Australia
12
www.criticalcomms.com January 2019
place in late 2017, following the issue
of a request for information. is
was followed a year later by a ‘request
for proposal’ (RFP), which invited
the telecommunications industry to
undertake a proof of concept for public
safety mobile broadband capability as the
next step in evaluating and advancing
the optimum procurement model.
Speaking of the RFP at the time
of its issue, managing director of
NSW Telco Authority Kate Foy said:
“NSW has been working in close
collaboration with representatives
from the Commonwealth and all the
other Australian states and territories
in developing the next steps towards a
national PSMB (public safety mobile
broadband) capability.
“By participating in the proof
of concept, industry can provide
solutions for innovative and cuttingedge
equipment that can be integrated
by public safety agencies into their
mission-critical communications
portfolios. e RFP also provides an
opportunity for carriers and equipment
suppliers to have a direct inuence
on the roadmap for a national PSMB
capability in Australia.”
According to NSW, the proof of
concept will test the delivery model
across urban, regional as well as remote
locations over a 12-month-plus period,
expected to begin early this year.
Discussing the context of the
proposed roll-out, Graham says:
“PSMB has been on the agenda for
almost 10 years. Personally, I think
the hold-up has been down to a
number of things, for instance the
technology and standards progress,
perennial questions about spectrum,
as well as capturing the fundamental
user requirements and alignment of
cross-government collaboration. e
decision to move forward was made
following an evaluation in part by the
Productivity Commission (PC), which
is a government body contributing to
microeconomic policy.
“Ultimately, the PC recommended
that telco MNO/MNVO provision
appeared to be the most nancially
viable, with a hybrid approach being
looked at ahead of a dedicated model.
What they’re essentially trying to
achieve is conrmation from the telco/
vendor community that they can
deliver the functionalities required,
now and into the future.”
Another way in which the Australian
experience is likely to parallel other
nation states is by going with a ‘data rst’
approach, while assessing standardised
mission-critical push to talk (and data) as
a probable future migration.
ere are a number of fairly
intuitive reasons for this, not least that
standardised MCPTT technology is
still coming to commercial fruition.
is is something that was tacitly
acknowledged by the UK Home Oce
in its recently announced Emergency
Services Network change of direction,
and well as by the early roll-out of
FirstNet in the US.
Speaking of what kind of model
he ultimately expects, Graham says:
“It is apparent that a MNO/MVNO
model will be central to an economical
outcome. However, service quality,
security, coverage, reliability and
resilience will clearly also be of extreme
interest to government and the end-users
themselves. is may also drive some
outcomes that require consideration of
hybrid model variations, including for
augmented coverage.
“Spectrum availability for potential
use by PSMB may also have some
bearing on the outcomes. is could
include some limited spectrum
earmarked in the 800 Mhz band by
the regulator. e proof of concept
proposed will hopefully provide
a sound basis for more informed
decision-making by government. It
is obvious that Australia is now more
closely monitoring the developments
in other countries, such as FirstNet in
the United States and the Emergency
Services Network in the UK.
“At the same time, the government
will undoubtedly be assessing how
MNOs can harden their networks,
thereby making them t for purpose
for public safety use. We’ve seen many
outages from commercial networks
recently which, if inconvenient for
users of non-critical data, would
certainly be far more than that for
rst-responders.”
He continues: “In Australia there
is no equivalent single-funded
central co-ordination agency such as
FirstNet. With that in mind, while
the eort is being largely facilitated
through the Department of Home
Aairs, PSMB should be deemed
a critical infrastructure programme
by government, given the critical
importance and implications to
Australian society for decades to come.
Given it is likely to replace existing
narrowband GRNs at some point in
the medium to longer term, many
believe additional dedicated resourcing
and funding is not just warranted but a
prudent economic investment.”
Moving onto devices, Graham says:
“ere’s a general consensus forming
that whatever network and devices
are adopted, they will ultimately
have to be able to support 3GPP
standards including mission-critical
functionalities. at should be a given
in Australia, just like people are starting
to realise in other countries, and
why such enormous industry eorts
are being devoted to getting these
standards t for purpose.”
Prior to that, other options are
already available, albeit by no means
approaching the functionality
envisioned in relation to fully formed
mission-critical broadband. One
example of this is LANES, through
which authorised subscribers can
be given prioritised access to MNO
Telstra’s LTE network.
“Telstra is the telco which has put
a lot of energy into the public safety
market in Australia,” says Graham.
“ey used LANES successfully during
the recent Commonwealth Games,
something which marked the beginning
of the mission-critical data story from
rst-responders’ point of view.
“at said, some government/GRN
users are also using or trialing MNO
options – including LANES – plus
other ‘over the top’ applications to
extend user experience from LMR to
broadband while a national PSMB
capability is being progressed. e
public safety mobile broadband
programme is likely to be the ultimate
unied path to MCX/MCPTT, albeit
with some agencies possibly running
standalone programmes using methods
Telstra’s LANES
service, which
gives users
prioritised access
to its mobile
broadband
network, was used
during the 2018
Commonwealth
Games
Credit: Kgbo/Wikimedia Commons
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