Committee to report on public safety

The terms of reference for a multijurisdictional steering committee to develop a plan to equip Australia’s public safety agencies with reliable and robust mobile broadband capability have been released.

The committee includes senior officials from state and territory police forces/services, the Australasian Fire and Emergency Service Authorities Council, the Council of Ambulance Authorities, the National Counter Terrorism Committee and ACMA.

ACMA is currently reviewing spectrum in the 800 MHz band which presents the opportunity to build a new dedicated mobile broadband capability for emergency response organisations.

Under the terms of reference, the Steering Committee is asked to: identify the operational and technical requirements of public safety agencies for a new mobile broadband capability to support their operations; feed into the ACMA’s current review of spectrum in the 800 MHz band, to identify a suitable quantum of spectrum suitable for an effective and efficient nation-wide public safety mobile broadband communications capability; develop a national implementation plan agreed to by all jurisdictions to use a possible allocation of spectrum from the 800 MHz band for an interoperable national mobile broadband capability for public safety agencies; consult industry stakeholders on the broadband.

The committee will report to the Standing Council for Police and Emergency Management by 29 February 2012.