Cost of 700 MHz Efforts by Local Governments Difficult to Gauge

Commissioners Robert McDowell and Ajit Pai expressed strong concerns about the waiver order when it was approved last week (CD Bulletin July 30). It remains unclear when the new FirstNet, a national network for public safety partly funded by the February spectrum law, will begin. The FirstNet board hasn’t been named by NTIA, but directors must be in place by Aug. 20.

"The government’s change of mind regarding public safety over the past three years has been a bit of a bait and switch,” McDowell told us.

"The order didn’t do anything specific for them, except grant their interoperability showings,” an FCC official said of Charlotte and Harris County. “They still have to get back into line.” But a second agency official was more hopeful: “Representations have been made on the eighth floor that Texas and Charlotte will be allowed to move forward with deployment, even after their waivers expire on September 2nd. It would be very surprising if either jurisdiction did not receive a STA” special temporary authority.

The Obama administration at one point actively encouraged the build out of these early networks, after efforts to sell off the 700 MHz D-block for a first responder network fell flat. Vice President Joe Biden became actively involved as first responders pushed for a network, culminating with a June 2011 event where he spoke (CD June 17/11 p1). In May 2010, the FCC approved waivers for 21 local governments and government groups to launch early networks (http://xrl.us/bni6c3).

Two days after that FCC order was released, NTIA announced it would reopen the application window for the second round of its Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) (http://xrl.us/bni6ds), but only for the waiver recipients. Seven eventually made it through the complex application process to win awards (CD Aug 19/10 p1). All that changed this year, after the approval of the spectrum bill in February, which provides $7 billion for FirstNet. NTIA suspended the public safety broadband grants and leadership at the FCC refocused on an order addressing the waivers issued two years earlier.

NTIA has made no decision on whether to fully restore funding for the seven BTOP recipients, following the FCC order, a spokeswoman said. “We cannot comment on specific grantees, but we continue to work closely with each affected grantee on how best its project can move forward to meet public safety needs.” BTOP public safety grantees spent $52.4 million as of July 27, she said. The NTIA spokeswoman noted that the agency only suspended “certain grantee activities,” not the grants themselves. “We share a common goal with our public safety grantees, which is to improve communications for first responders,” she said. “We are sympathetic about their projects being paused, but we also have a responsibility to protect taxpayers’ investments. While we have not stated a timetable for addressing the issues surrounding these grant projects, we are working closely with each affected grantee on how best its project can move forward to meet public safety needs in this changed environment. We have two key goals: First, we want to keep the grant money in the states and communities that received the funding. Second, we want to ensure the grant dollars are spent on facilities and equipment that will be incorporated into the FirstNet network."

A public safety official said there was obvious coordination between the White House and the FCC on the grant of the waivers and their eventual cancellation. “The FCC knew that there was a desire for a national broadband network and they went out and issued all these waivers,” the official said. “For the money that’s been spent, how much is going to tie into FirstNet? It’s just kind of an unfortunate exercise and that’s too bad.”

"One concern I have is whether the commission has effectively made it impossible for some local jurisdictions, who have been planning in good faith, to build state of the art networks that may indeed be interoperable with whatever FirstNet creates,” McDowell said in an interview. “At the same time, there’s enough of an outline of a process where localities could be granted waivers on a forward-going basis so that they can protect their citizenry. As a larger policy matter, my concern has been that while we wait for FirstNet to get organized and for a network or networks to get built some disaster could strike for which we are not prepared. These waivers offer us our opportunity to help local jurisdictions become prepared more quickly.” McDowell noted that the FCC held a demonstration in September of technology that already exists that would resolve interoperability issues. “We need to do all that we can to encourage public safety to build to an all IP world where interoperability becomes less of a challenge,” he said.

"Our overriding goal must be protecting public safety,” Pai said Monday. “It’s my hope that the bureau keeps that objective in mind when it reviews the merits of each of these applications on a case-by-case basis. In particular, I believe we should give special consideration to networks that can be deployed in locations prone to natural disasters, such as hurricanes, earthquakes and tornadoes. Should disaster strike, public safety personnel will need interoperable networks at that moment, and the promise of such a network being available sometime in the future won’t do them any good."

"This is all a game changer for us, and we're all trying to adjust to it,” Jim Bogner, vice chair of the Public Safety Spectrum Trust Operator Advisory Committee (OAC), said of the 21 waiver recipients. The recent order was “generally what we anticipated [the commission] would do” due to its “record” and ongoing discussions, he added.

The Texas Department of Public Safety trumpeted the FCC order in a news release late Friday as what Director Steven McCraw called “great news for the State of Texas.” The order “will allow us to enhance communication capabilities among the law enforcement and first responder communities,” he said. The state will be seeking authorization beyond the Sept. 2 STA expiration within the week, the department said. “Charlotte appreciates the FCC’s work in providing guidance to jurisdictions that want to pursue early deployment of this critical public safety network and its commitment to timely action on any STA requests,” Charlotte Shared Services Director Chuck Robinson said. “The City is carefully reviewing the STA criteria announced by the FCC in relation to the City’s project."

Similar sentiments emerged from the head of the Bay Area broadband safety network project. “We are still reviewing the order and remain cautiously optimistic that the Bay Area project will continue to move forward,” said BayRICS Interim General Manager Barry Fraser. The order will have no effect on Florida, said Bill Price, the state’s broadband programs director. Pembroke Pines was the one site in the state approved for 700 MHz work, but hadn’t received any BTOP funding and doesn’t face the problems some jurisdictions now face, he said. Florida anticipates “participating in some meaningful way” in FirstNet, he said. The Adams County Communications Center, a BTOP grantee responsible for building out an LTE public safety network in Colorado, doesn’t think the order gives it “any more guarantees going forward,” said Senior Communications Technician Walter Leslie. The Colorado team will “most likely wait until FirstNet is stood up” and then hopes to “make our case to FirstNet” to resume operations after several months of suspension, he said. The county remains “hopeful,” he said.

The OAC sees opportunity in how the waiver recipients can help FirstNet. “What we hope to do going forward is be an advisory committee to FirstNet,” Bogner told us. The 21 waiver recipients of the OAC have developed expertise in pulling together stakeholders, the “state buy-in” and education and the technical details of deployment, he said. That knowledge will be useful to the FirstNet board as the board attempts to craft a nationwide network, Bogner said. The FCC order is “just half the equation,” since the spectrum licenses will be transferred to FirstNet, he said. “Those are lessons we can share with FirstNet.” The FirstNet board will be established in late August and it will take “several months and perhaps a year or so to gather all the information they need to move forward,” he said.

Charlotte, Harris County and others that are farther along should continue as “pilot projects” for FirstNet, Bogner said. There’s “substantial benefit” that he and fellow OAC members see in allowing that, he explained, and interoperability with FirstNet is not likely to pose a problem. “None of these waiver recipients ever considering going forward on their own” without attention to compatibility, he said. Former OAC Chair Bill Schrier also suggested in mid-July these advanced projects receive authorization to proceed as pilots (CD July 19 p4).

Equipment and infrastructure is unused since the federal government suspended activity May 11, some grantees said. The Adams County project was about 70 percent done and had spent about 80 percent of funding, much to purchase LTE equipment in anticipation of a March 2013 deployment after intensive testing, Leslie said. “Some of it has been installed and some is in storage.” If not authorized to resume, “that will be a stranded cost,” he said. NTIA’s suspension of the Adams County project caused its own complications, he said, noting that the municipality’s existing contract with the installation vendor is nearly expired. “We would have to renegotiate the contract,” he said. If reauthorized today, the Adams County network launch would likely be delayed about six months, he estimated. Leslie has “mixed emotions” about the past year and there was “a little surprise” in Colorado upon learning the project wasn’t allowed to continue and demonstrate the virtues of an operational public safety network, he said. “Stranded costs are a big concern for us in the Bay Area,” Fraser said of grants including the $3 million spent on planning and site review and other groundwork. “That could be for naught, and we don’t want that to happen.” BayRICS is happy the FCC has provided a potential path for completion in its new order but acknowledges the uncertainties -- “short delays we were able to accommodate” but now “several months” have passed since the NTIA suspended the Bay Area’s grant, he said.

The STAs last 180 days, which doesn’t provide much stability for states and local users, a Mississippi official said of the FCC order. The state wants “to move forward” with its public safety broadband network, but is also weighing “how this is going to impact us as a state,” said Mississippi Wireless Communication Commission Executive Officer Vicki Helfrich. “We would be operating a network with the uncertainty of whether we'd be operating six months from now. ... Once you turn that network on and begin operating it, you can’t walk away. We now have to evaluate all the risk associated with this.” Like other waiver recipients, Mississippi faces serious investment that could be stranded and is “a factor” in their discussions, she said. “We have to evaluate the cost associated with the LTE equipment that is currently hanging on our towers and sitting in our shelters.” Fraser agreed the STA time frame is “a concern” and that vendors and contracts “require some continuity going forward” but believes it’s something “we just have to work through.” The FirstNet board may provide a “more permanent” structure and approval process, he said.

Iowa has “nothing stranded” with no infrastructure and no build-out yet, said Bogner, also Iowa Statewide Interoperability Coordinator. Stranded costs would be a bigger concern in advanced projects like Charlotte and Harris County, he said. NTIA’s reasoning for suspending the seven public safety network BTOP grantees in May came down to fear of wasting tax money on a system that’s not compatible with FirstNet, it wrote grantees (http://xrl.us/bm69nj).

All the waiver recipients still struggle with unknowns, several acknowledged. “The conditions contained in the legislation passed in February created a substantial change in the whole process we've been following for the last couple years,” Bogner said. “Over the last few months we've been discussing what our options are.” Fraser doesn’t wish to be critical of the FCC and NTIA and noted this all amounts to a “huge process” and that he and many others understand their positions, all while acknowledging the frustrations and challenges that come from the process. “The uncertainty makes it very difficult to plan and complete these projects,” he said.

"With so many moving parts, unique local/state considerations and potential funding challenges down the road, realizing interoperable 700 MHz public safety communications around the country will likely be an ongoing challenge in coming years and will require constant oversight, possibly including periodic tweaks by policymakers, to navigate future obstacles that are bound to arise,” said Jeff Silva, analyst at Medley Global Advisors. “Inherently this is not apt to follow a clean linear path. It looks more like a zigzag story, one that can be successful with thoughtful guidance and sustained political will to achieve congressional intent.”