Public Safety Mobile Broadband

9 March 2016

Jonathan Coppel, Presiding Commissioner

Productivity Commission

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Productivity Commission Study on PSMBFirst principles analysis to determine the best way to deliver a public safety mobile broadband (PSMB) capability by 2020, giving consideration to:

• the requirements of public safety agencies (in terms of network capacity and quality of service)

• the relative costs, benefits and risks of alternative delivery options (dedicated, commercial or hybrid)

• relevant domestic and international reports and experiences

The question of whether a PSMB capability is in the best interests of the community was not explicitly asked.

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Mobile broadband offers significant benefits, but uptake currently modest

Voice will remain the primary means of communication for PSAs

Mobile broadband offers new benefits•For example, frontline access to video, databases, and admin

But uptake low due to concerns about quality of service currentlyoffered by commercial carriers •PSAs are not using mobile broadband in ‘mission critical’ situations

•Key issues are network access, priority services and network reliability

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Dedicated PSMB capability

Full coverage hybrid approach•Dedicated network, dedicated spectrum•Overflow to carrier for capacity

Target hybrid approach•Dedicated network, spectrum (metro), •Overflow for capacity in metro•Carrier network and spectrum in regional

Commercial approach

The Commission evaluated four main options

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Quantitative results

Deploying a dedicated PSMB capability is

nearly 3xmore expensive than the commercial option

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Quantitative results

The lowest-cost hybrid option considered is

1.3x more expensivethan the commercial option

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Cost rankings are robust to changing assumptions

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4

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Dedicatednetwork

Full coveragehybrid

Targeted hybrid Commercialapproach

Net

pre

sent

val

ue ($

b)

Options

Upper bound

Central case

Lower bound

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Cost is not the only factorA dedicated PSMB capability•Is expected to take longer to deliver •Carries a greater risk that technology upgrades prove less economic or take longer•And offers less flexibility to scale up capacity in the short term

On the other hand, under a commercial or hybrid option•Are more susceptible to supplier lock-in risk•There is uncertainty about the precise standards that could or would be achieved for priority services•Competitive procurement may be more challenging

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On first principles a commercial approach offers the best way forward

• Imposes a considerably lower cost on the community

• Delivers a PSMB capability sooner, with a lower risk of delay

• Provides PSAs with the flexibility to scale up demand in the short term‑

• Lowers the per user cost of upgrading technology, increasing the likelihood that these upgrades are undertaken in a timely way.

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Pilots provide an opportunity to: •Gain confidence in a commercial approach•Gauge the costs, benefits and risks of PSMB•Develop a business case for a wider scale roll out‑

The continuation of LMR networks creates a relatively low-risk environment for experimentation with new technology

Start with small-scale pilots

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• Cost-reflective pricing of PSMB services encourages efficient use

• A statewide implementation agency may help

• Competitive procurement is essential• Splitting up tenders, leveraging infrastructure assets and insisting on open

technology standards

• Achieving interoperability requires technical and institutional change • A minimum set of technical interoperability protocols will be required • PSAs will also need to adapt their operations, including developing

protocols for sharing information and network capacity among agencies

Efficient implementation

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Thank you

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