FCC

Andy Seybold’s Public Safety Advocate, March 1, 2018

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From One IWCE to the Next.  It seems as though AT&T has had the FirstNet contract forever, especially since many agencies are already up and running on FirstNet. Yet at last year’s IWCE conference in Las Vegas, March 5 to 9, FirstNet had not yet officially awarded the contract to AT&T. Expectations were clearly in the camp that AT&T would win the FirstNet contract but it was more than a week later that the court dismissed Rivada’s lawsuit, leaving AT&T as the only qualified bidder. Until the contract was awarded, there was always the chance that it would, once again, be challenged in court, but fortunately that did not happen.

At that time, we all expected to wait through the 5-year build plan for FirstNet band 14 before FirstNet would become a nationwide network with pre-emption. However, AT&T gave public safety a huge bonus with the use of all AT&T LTE spectrum and priority from the day a state opted in, followed by full pre-emption, not only on FirstNet spectrum but on ALL AT&T LTE spectrum. Further, AT&T promised that the FirstNet core (the Enhanced Packet Core, EPC) that will be the heart of the network would be up and running by the end of the first quarter of 2018.

This year should be the IWCE’s coming out party for FirstNet. However, as we look back at the past 12 months, is it difficult to comprehend that this year’s conference is the first with the FirstNet Authority and FirstNet Ecosystem up and running. All 50 states, the District of Columbia, and all U.S. Territories have opted in and many states and the tribal nations have been meeting with the FirstNet/AT&T team for months now. It is almost anti-climactic for this IWCE to celebrate FirstNet. So many FirstNet goals have already been finalized and AT&T is moving forward with site build-outs in metro, suburban, and rural areas. AT&T has also made it clear that every enhancement to its commercial networks including more LTE sites, in-building coverage, 5G small cells, and whatever broadband technology is deployed during the next 25 years will be made available to FirstNet as well as AT&T’s commercial customers. Read the Entire Post Here Continue reading →

AT&T Announces FirstNet Band 14 Phone

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AT&T, Inc., has announced that First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) subscribers will be able to use the Samsung Galaxy S9/S9+ on the network by the end of March, and that it will be one of the first commercially available smartphones certified for the network that will be able to access public safety Band 14. “The availability of the first Samsung device with built-in access to FirstNet’s public safety spectrum, Band 14, is a major development for the network,” said FirstNet Chief Technology Officer Jeff Bratcher. “As we planned for FirstNet, public safety stressed to us time and again that access to innovative wireless broadband devices was critical. We are delivering on this key objective by developing and growing a global device ecosystem for FirstNet to help public safety with their lifesaving mission.”

Chris Sambar, AT&T’s senior vice president-FirstNet, said, “We promised to work with the device community to help deliver next-generation technologies to public safety. And, we couldn’t be more pleased that Samsung built Band 14 into the Galaxy S9/S9+, helping us keep that commitment while unlocking access to top-of-the-line devices that first responders can use to help achieve their missions.”

Courtesy TRDaily

 

CSRIC to Meet March 28

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The FCC’s Communications Security, Reliability, and Interoperability Council plans meet from 1 to 5 p.m. on March 28 in the Commission Meeting Room at the FCC’s Washington headquarters.

 

Andy Seybold’s Public Safety Advocate, February 22, 2018

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NG9-1-1, Dispatch, and FirstNet. Let’s Start with a Happy Birthday to 9-1-1
9-1-1 celebrated its 50-year anniversary last week. Countless lives have been saved by the expediency of the 9-1-1 system and those answering the phones who take charge when needed, sometimes calming a hysterical mother or father and then walking him or her through first steps to administer aid until paramedics arrive. Every month we hear stories about how a 9-1-1 operator saved a life by instructing the caller how to do CPR compressions on the chest, to keep air flowing, or some other way to administer first aid until help arrives. While 9-1-1 services have made a huge difference in public safety responses to emergencies, many 9-1-1 centers have not been upgraded for a number of years.

From Citizen to Responder. A few weeks ago, I wrote a column entitled, “Rural Broadband, the Headless Horseman” to make the point that not only FirstNet but a multitude of federal, state, and other agencies have their sights set on providing broadband to rural America but since there is no leadership at the top to organize all of the disparate efforts, it will take a lot longer to solve the digital divide issue than it should. This brings me to another series of services that are interrelated but seem to be moving forward without much in the way of structured management to make sure all the pieces fit together in what citizens will see as seamless experiences in receiving public safety assistance.

It starts with what happens when a citizen calls 9-1-1 and connects to a Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) that takes and verifies as much information as possible and then passes it over to the dispatch center, which then notifies the first responder community of the type, nature, and location of the call based on the information obtained. It should be noted that sometimes the PSAP and dispatch center are one and the same, sometimes they are co-located, and sometimes they are apart from each other.

The last piece of information, location, is often the most difficult to determine because many calls come from a highway and the citizen has no clue as to exactly where he/she is. Unfortunately, our FCC’s old and now new rules for 9-1-1 location-based services won’t help the location issue much, but that is a longer and different story. Once the call is verified, it is sent to the dispatcher at the dispatch center or in some smaller PSAPs, the person answering the call becomes the dispatcher for the call. From there it is sent out to appropriate field units such as a single police car, multiple fire apparatus, a paramedic unit, or any combination of these. Read the Entire Post Here Continue reading →

FCC Warns Licensees About Use of Interoperability Channels

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The Policy and Licensing Division of the FCC’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau advised licensees today that non-interoperability use of interoperability channels is permitted at most only on a secondary basis.

The division issued a letter providing guidance to Wynn Brannin, the statewide emergency coordinator and statewide interoperability coordinator for New Mexico, in response to his request. It also sent a letter to Franklin Square & Munson Fire District in New York saying that the agency has learned that the district is using the 453.4625 megahertz frequency “for internal, routine, day-to-day operations” in violation of FCC rules. The district “must discontinue operation of this frequency if the channel is needed for interoperability,” it said.

In the letter to Mr. Brannin, the division confirmed “that the interoperability and mutual aid channels are primarily for interoperable emergency communications between different public safety licensees. Day-to-day communications are permitted only on a secondary basis on the VHF and UHF interoperability channels and are prohibited on the 800 MHz interoperability channels. Continue reading →

O’Rielly Presses States, Territories on Missing 911 Data

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FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly today asked four states and three territories to explain why they did not respond to the FCC’s most recent effort to gather data about 911 deployment, including diversions of 911 fees and surcharges.

In a letter to the governors of New York, Oklahoma, Missouri, Montana, Puerto Rico, the Northern Mariana Islands, and Guam, Mr. O’Rielly said, “Inexplicably, in many instances, officials under your leadership failed to respond to our last request for such information. At the very least, given the importance of this information, you should have been aware of the impending failure to respond. This suggests that addressing your 9-1-1 system or NG 9-1-1 capabilities is not as high of a priority for your state or territory as it should be. It is beyond disappointing, as it is hard to imagine what could be more important to the lives and well-being of your residents than a well-functioning 9-1-1 system.” Continue reading →

Andy Seybold’s Public Safety Advocate, February 15, 2018

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Networks with a Purpose. Fixed and wireless networks are all built for a purpose. This might be for a single purpose such as Land Mobile Radio (LMR) public safety systems or it might be for a broader purpose such as cellular networks built to serve a company’s customers be they individuals, businesses, machine-to-machine (Internet of Things, IoT), and other uses. The design of the network, the coverage it provides, and the services enabled to run over the network will differ. Some wireless networks are used to communicate from one continent to another, satellite networks are designed to deliver specific content from one location to another, usually remote locations, and satellite systems for voice and slow-speed data enable people in unpopulated areas, on oil rigs in the gulf, or on ships to communicate via dial-up telephony among other purposes.

This week’s Advocate is about several types of purpose-built networks including Land Mobile Radio (LMR), commercial broadband wireless networks, and the new FirstNet hybrid commercial/public safety system. All three of these networks are currently being used by the public safety community. The LMR systems are purpose-built to cover a specific geographic area such as a city, county, region, and more and more, an entire state. These networks are designed, planned, and built to carry primarily Push-To-Talk (PTT) audio for the public safety community from the dispatch center to the field, from unit to unit, and from group to group. While some LMR networks do handle data, especially compared to wireless broadband, they are very slow and not capable of much more than text services. Read the Entire Post Here

Discovery Patterns Weekly News Recap Follows:

AT&T: Promises Rural Areas to Be Priority in FirstNet Buildout, 4 Traders Feb 14 18:50, Read More

Rural deployment will not be an afterthought to urban deployment during the buildout of the First Responder Network Authority , AT&T, FirstNet and state officials said during a webinar hosted by… Continue reading →

FCC Official Pleased with Indoor Location Accuracy Technologies

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An FCC official said today he is pleased with the development of technologies to deliver indoor 911 location accuracy. In remarks this morning at the National Emergency Number Association’s 911 Goes to Washington event, David Furth, deputy chief of the FCC’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau, noted that at a 911 technology showcase he attended on Capitol Hill yesterday, he saw “how quickly technology is pushing the envelope on this.”

He noted that rules the FCC adopted in 2015 (TR Daily, Jan. 29, 2015) set a “floor” for the delivery of indoor 911 location accuracy.

“The technology is actually getting us closer to the ceiling a lot faster, which is great,” Mr. Furth said.

In the 2015 order, the FCC, among other things, established thresholds that carriers must meet to provide dispatchable location or 50-meter horizontal accuracy. By 2020, the threshold is 70% for national carriers and by 2021 it’s 80%. Mr. Furth said some technology already is capable of reaching the 70% mark and is moving to the 80% threshold.

On another area, Mr. Furth also noted the increase in public safety answering points (PSAPs) that are now capable of receiving texts.“It’s an improving picture, but it still is a glass half full, or maybe one third full, two-thirds empty, because we still have a lot of areas where text-to-911 is not available,” he said. Continue reading →

Stakeholders Cite 911 Successes, Challenges

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FCC officials, members of Congress, public safety and industry representatives, and others today cited the successes of the 911 system as well as the challenges still ahead.

Stakeholders welcomed today’s 50th anniversary of the first 911 call on the same day that President Trump signed the Kari’s Law Act of 2017 (HR 582), which Congress passed last week (TR Daily, Feb. 9). The bill requires multi-line telephone systems to be configured so users can dial 911 without dialing any other numbers. “I am thrilled that Kari’s Law has now become the law of the land.  An access code should not stand between people who call 911 in need of help and emergency responders who can provide assistance,” FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said.

“As we recognize the 50th anniversary of the first 9-1-1 call, we applaud President Trump for signing into law this important step to improve our nation’s public safety communications,” said Reps. Greg Walden (R., Ore.) and Marsha Blackburn (R., Tenn.), the respective chairmen of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and its communications and technology subcommittee. “In the heat of a crisis, Kari’s Law ensures that dialing 9-1-1 means your call will go through, no matter what kind of phone you’re using.”

“Verizon is proud to have strongly supported this very important piece of legislation,” said Robert Fisher, Verizon Communications, Inc.’s senior vice-president-federal government relations.  “Children starting in pre-school are taught that when there’s an emergency, they should dial 911.  There should be no barriers to making that connection.”  Verizon said “all of the company’s internal systems in its wire line footprint have been reconfigured to meet this new, 911 direct dial obligation.” Continue reading →

Pai Solicits Tribal Task Force Participation

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FCC Chairman Ajit Pai today solicited nominations to serve on the agency’s Native Nations Communications Task Force. During remarks at a meeting at the FCC of the National Congress of American Indians’ Executive Council, Mr. Pai noted that the FCC has announced “the renewal of what we call the Native Nations Communications Task Force [TR Daily, Feb. 8] and [is] seeking member nominations.

Originally created in 2011, this latest renewal recognizes the importance of Tribal input on Commission matters that impact Americans living on Tribal lands. I’m grateful to the Tribal officials who have served on the Task Force in the past and encourage you to submit nominations from your Tribes to serve on the latest iteration.”

Courtesy TRDaily