NENA Responds to FCC Broadband Plan

The National Emergency Number Association (NENA) has submitted its feedback to the FCC on the subject of a national broadband plan, asking the Commission to study the plans goals, “to ensure that federal broadband policies are designed to enable effective, affordable broadband access, and the efficient use of broadband, by all emergency response agencies.” The FCC’s inquiry on broadband is part of the federal economic stimulus package passed earlier this year by Congress, but which legislators failed to define. Instead, Congress said only that the economic recovery should, include “a plan for the use of broadband infrastructure and services in advancing . . . public safety and homeland security.” [more]Shortly after, the FCC issued a Notice of Inquiry (NOI), with just a single paragraph among 59 pages that referred to how broadband might apply to NG911, and five others referring to public safety. Now NENA says the NOI, “offers a significant opportunity to outline steps to foster the migration from analog, voice-centric 9-1-1 and emergency communications systems into a 21st century, next generation, IP broadband-based emergency services model.” NENA also told the FCC that the on-going project to create a national wireless public safety broadband network, “The Commission should equally stress the need for all emergency response agencies to have access to, and to utilize, wired broadband networks.” Download (pdf) the FCC’s NOI here.

Editorial

Of course, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 has nothing whatsoever to do with public safety, 911 or America’s comm centers. Instead, it’s intended as an outline on how to spend several billion dollars of the government’s borrowed money, all to jump-start the economy by creating projects which, in turn, create jobs. “Broadband” is just one of 19 broad categories of projects that the Act identifies–and is actually the last category listed in the 407-page bill.

And at that, the broadband sectionis just 4½ pages long. And, there is just a 12-word reference to broadband and “public safety agencies.” Instead, the Act’s broadband interest is focused on “underserved” areas of the country, education, low-income, unemployed and job creation.

But, since–coincidentally–the still-developing plans for a NG911 network have settled on using an IP-based network, there is a connection between the Act and public safety comm centers. At least in the eyes of NENA and others, who see the funding as a way of jump-starting creation of NG911.

Their efforts fly in the face of the experience of their sister organization, APCO, which has been trying to find Washington support to fund and build a national public safety radio network–unsuccessfully. While NENA’s efforts are always necessary, and always applauded, shouldn’t funding for NG911 be unrelated to any other efforts?

Shouldn’t the nation’s citizens and legislators be supportive of moving to NG911, regardless? Tying the nation’s next 911 network to the economic recovery seems unnecessary, and unnecessarily competitive. Who believes that the entire cost of NG911 is going to come from the economic recovery funds?