WASHINGTON-Six senators are asking the Bush administration to develop guidelines for a new public-safety interoperable communications grant program to allow for the use of Internet Protocol-based technologies instead of the wholesale replacement of current equipment.
“The administration should seriously consider grant proposals to purchase and deploy solutions that make all public-safety radios and other communications devices interoperable, provided that such solutions interoperate with future 700 MHz systems,” reads the letter to Joshua Bolton, director of the Office of Management and Budget; Carlos Gutierrez, secretary of Commerce; and Michael Chertoff, secretary of Homeland Security.
“Advances in technology, specifically the utilization of IP-convergence technology, have made it possible for all existing public-safety radios to interoperate in multiple spectrum bands. Several communication service providers currently offer functional technologies that eliminate the need to prematurely replace most public-safety communications equipment in order to achieve interoperability. By converting analog communications to IP, emergency personnel operating on disparate systems will be able to communicate within a locality or with surrounding state, local, tribal, or national emergency-communications officials,” the letter added.
The Deficit Reduction Act of 2006 created a $1 billion grant program to be administered by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, a unit of the Department of Commerce, from proceeds derived by the auction of spectrum being returned by broadcasters as part of the transition to digital TV. It is unclear whether NTIA has released details of the grant program and the agency did not respond to requests for comment. The auction is scheduled for no later than January 2008.
Using IP-based mesh networks is more cost-efficient, said the senators.
Reductions in funding for interoperable communications has been a consistent theme of critics of the Bush administration.
