TCCA welcomes support for European digital thrust

The TETRA + Critical Communications Association (TCCA) has said that it welcomes the stated commitment of new European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker to make much better use of the great opportunities offered by digital technologies.

In his New Start for Europe document, President Juncker states: “... we will need to have the courage to break down national silos in telecoms regulation, in copyright and data protection legislation, in the management of radio waves and in the application of competition law. …  Enhancing the use of digital technologies and online services should become a horizontal policy, covering all sectors of the economy and of the public sector.”

An opportunity for the establishment of mission-critical mobile broadband data services is opening at 700 MHz. This band is expected to be shared or ultimately fully reallocated to mobile service at the World Radiocommunications Conference in November 2015 (WRC-15).

Jeppe Jepsen, director of broadband spectrum for the TCCA, said: “Mission-critical broadband services need spectrum to be effective. The PPDR community must not be put in a situation where they are competing with the mass market smartphone users for bandwidth to communicate.”

A London School of Economics analysis of the use of mission-critical broadband by emergency services has estimated a socioeconomic benefit for the use of 2 x 10 MHz of the 700 MHz band for €20.98 billion p.a. that encompasses 60% of the European population across 10 selected countries representing three regions. This figure is higher if it is extrapolated to cover the EU28 figure of 500 million people, yielding a socioeconomic benefit of €34.94 billion p.a.

The PPDR community, through the EU Council’s Law Enforcement Working Party (LEWP), has worked jointly with the spectrum regulator community (CEPT-ECC) and concluded in an ECC Report that a minimum of 2 x 10 MHz spectrum is required for mobile broadband data services, with additional spectrum required to implement voice services, air ground air, direct mode operation and ad hoc networks.