MNOs
from the outset. “Typically, the nature
of public safety operations sets very
high standards and demands on service
availability, resilience and security,” he
adds. “In technical terms, this means
wide network coverage and a resilient
radio access network, including a power
supply back-up for the base stations
and a resilient transmission network.
MNO networks do not typically fulfil
the most rigid demands of public safety.
User organisations therefore need to
figure out if there is flexibility on these
requirements. A relevant option is
to start with the existing service level
of an MNO and gradually improve
the capabilities of the network; for
example, by extending the coverage on
a need basis.”
Other issues that need to be taken
into consideration from the outset
include the financing model for the
network investments that are typically
required to enable these types of
projects to progress smoothly.
“It may be done by the MNO which
is making the investments on the basis
that the average revenue per missioncritical
user will be higher than that of a
consumer, or maybe the governmental
administration will be willing to
capitalise an MNO’s investments,” says
Savunen. “It may even be done by user
organisations. A final solution may also
be a combination of these options.”
The business model employed is
also an essential question that needs
addressing early on, with diverse
capabilities put in place to create
end-to-end public safety services. Part
of this puzzle includes radio network
services, but according to Savunen
other technical capabilities that need
to be considered are user devices,
public safety applications, security
solutions, provisioning of devices,
organisations and end-users and overall
service management.
Another additional factor that
needs to be weighed up by all parties
is the option of using several MNOs’
networks. “If several networks are
available, it improves the availability
and resilience of services,” says Savunen.
“Although in case of several national
MNOs, the coverage areas can be
of knowledge and experience from
deploying previous LMR technologies,”
says Johur. “Also, if you’re looking
into the MNO model and 3GPP
environment, there are a plentiful
number of consultants operating there.
We as vendors are there as well to help
support all levels of conversations to
enable this market, and we have experts
that support various conversations
between all major ecosystem players.”
He adds that one of the reasons
TCCA exists is to support end-users
and MNOs, and he encourages
all interested parties to join the
organisation. It’s a sentiment echoed
by Philippe Agard, public safety and
defence markets leader at Nokia, chair
of the critical communications BIG
working group and a board member
of TCCA, who outlines the role the
association can play.
“First the conversations happen
with the suppliers and we contribute
to evangelise and prepare the culture
change,” says Agard. “Here is a good
example of why TCCA is attractive and
hopefully successful in bringing expert
people to the table, especially now that
players like Nokia and Ericsson are
taking a very active role, and elected
to the board. That was not at all an
obvious step, but it was a huge step
towards helping to change the culture.
We are also seeing service providers
joining TCCA who want to embrace
the public safety business and adopt,
and fit into, the culture. We see TCCA
as a good environment to create this
culture adoption. We are not saying
this is the only place, but it is one way
to make it happen. Service providers
have dedicated people who look at this
from a specific angle – they come from
a team tasked to embrace the critical
communications needs.”
Tero Pesonen, chairman of the
Critical Communications Broadband
Group (CCBG) at TCCA, agrees there
is significant scope for parties on both
sides to learn from one another.
“This is what TCCA CCBG for its
own part accommodates by enabling
public safety operators, user agencies
and MNOs to meet and exchange
knowledge,” says Pesonen. “To help
MNOs get more familiar with critical
communications we have produced a
number of white papers to assist MNOs
to choose a strategy fitting their overall
thinking. One can decide to be just a
data pipe or take a more comprehensive
role looking after core services and
applications running on it.”
overlapping, usually the combined
coverage of many MNOs is larger than
the coverage of a single operator.”
While both sides are working towards
achieving the same end goal there
are clearly a number of fundamental
differences between MNOs and public
safety organisations.
“Mobile operators are to serve their
consumer and enterprise customers,
and create value for their shareholders,”
explains Savunen. “Public safety
organisations, on the other hand, are
to ensure the safety and security of
societies. When MNOs need to serve
public safety users and their ordinary
customers by using shared network
resources, somehow the fundamental
difference between these user groups
needs to be solved.”
He adds that although there can be
different priorities on a technical level,
generally speaking these challenges can
usually be resolved. Another hurdle
that’s also not insurmountable is the
cultural differences that exist between
public sector and private sector parties.
Johur says one thing he has
noticed is the impact the increasingly
specialised nature of the MNOs
has had on negotiations, which
requires numerous participants to be
involved in conversations with public
sector partners.
“They public safety agencies may
wonder why multiple experts need to
be brought into a meeting to discuss
a particular topic, but that’s because
within the technology and business
domains, within the mobile network
operators and vendors, there is a huge
amount of specialisation going on
because the technologies and operations
are so complex, and the businesses are
so large and so optimised that there is a
clear difference,” says Johur.
“That is significantly different from
any environment the governments and
industries are used to, where working
with previous technologies there were
often experts with a good enough
overview of everything, so you were
often able to talk to one or two people
and get to discuss a particular topic or
resolve something.”
The good news for public safety
agencies looking to get advice on how
to work with MNOs and fill in any
knowledge gaps is there is plenty of help
available out there.
“We’re lucky enough there are
consultants and experts that exist within
our community that have a long history
in critical communications and lots
First the conversations
happen with the
suppliers and we contribute to
evangelise and prepare
the culture change
22 www.criticalcomms.com October 2019
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