NPSTC Expected to Pick LTE as Public-Safety Broadband Standard

Attendees at the NPSTC meeting heard only a presentation on LTE on Wednesday. LTE has gained significant momentum among carriers and is the standard embraced by both AT&T and Verizon Wireless, among 120 carriers who have done so worldwide, said speakers at the meeting. But Trey Hanbury, Sprint Nextel director of government affairs, asked the board to seek more information on WiMAX before making a decision. Sprint is deploying a WiMAX-based system in combination with Clearwire.

“What’s the difference between LTE and WiMAX?” asked Tom Sorley, chairman of NPSTC’s Technology Committee, framing the discussion. “Why one over the other? Do we have a preference?” Can public safety “just wait and see who wins?” he asked.

“I haven’t heard anything here about WiMAX and all I'm hearing is a lot of discussion about LTE,” said Marilyn Ward, executive director of NPSTC, who asked for a show of hands among attendees on whether the group should immediately endorse LTE. Other speakers also called on NPSTC to make a call Wednesday. But rather than endorse LTE, the group appeared set after an extended debate to tentatively adopt LTE as the standard, though the group will ask for more information from Verizon Wireless and AT&T on their plans to make available devices for the 700 MHz band.

“Economies of scale were a major reason for the statement that APCO and NENA put out,” explained Robert Gurss, APCO director of legal and government affairs. “It’s the ability to leverage the substantial advantages that LTE appears to have, in addition to the technological benefits of it. Those weigh very heavily and I think we need to take that into consideration our long history of being pigeon-holed into particular technologies. This is an opportunity to take advantage of a huge marketplace and to really drive the costs down.” Gurss also said adopting LTE would make a partnership to build a public-private public safety network viable.

APCO and NENA’s joint press release announcing their endorsement of LTE said: “LTE is a standard capable of supporting public safety needs for voice, video and data communications with high bandwidth and low latency, which can significantly improve first-responder access to mission-critical communications using bandwidth-hungry applications … Further, LTE’s all-IP architecture, spectral efficiency, and bandwidth flexibility will improve overall network economics.”

Among other issues NPSTC is discussing is how roaming would work if first responders need access outside of their jurisdictions, if the network is built based on a series of regional networks rather than a single national network. Can public safety duplicate the kinds of roaming made available by wireless companies? Sorley asked. “That may be the key issue up front,” he said. “What roaming methodologies have to be deployed? What do we have to do to be able to roam? Are there applications that have to exist in each of these systems?”

Network security and rules for peer-to-peer devices also present tough technical issues that NPSTC must work through, Sorley said.

Harlin McEwen, chairman of the Public Safety Spectrum Trust, encouraged NPSTC to make a decision quickly. “This is the discussion I hoped we would have,” he said. “Many believe it is now time to decide on our preference for LTE or WiMAX. We can’t drag this on for a long period of time We have to make these decisions as focused and as simple as possible.” McEwen said one advantage of LTE is that Verizon and AT&T are building systems that will work in the 700 MHz band. He asked if similar WiMAX devices will be available anytime soon for the 700 MHz band. “If not, how the hell are we going to get this done?” he asked.