More money urged for emergency communications
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More money and modern technology is needed to help police, fire and other first responders better communicate when responding to terrorist attacks and natural disasters, two former U.S. government officials said on Thursday.
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President Bush dispatched two Cabinet secretaries and more federal money to this hard-hit state on Tuesday as tens of thousands of people flooded disaster relief hotlines.
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As 700MHz auction approaches, groups say some of that space should go to emergency responders. Mobile operators disagree.
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A more joined-up approach to net safety is needed if government is to get the message home to citizens.
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Â· Ofcom urges rethink of broadcaster's remit  Â· Cash help needed to plug Â£100m digital black hole
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BOISE -- In Idaho, the phones at the Red Cross continue to ring as people look for ways to help those touched by tsunami disaster in Asia.
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Blog: Some towns are using public safety grants for law enforcement wireless networks to cover their initial costs for building a broadband infrastructure.
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The government came under pressure on Thursday to step up its response to last monthÃÂÃÂs flood disaster and provide cash to South Yorkshire and Humberside flood victims as Community Secretary Hazel Blears visited the area.
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Governors from both parties appealed yesterday for the Bush administration and Congress to provide more money for a health-care program that insures millions of children.
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(InfoWorld) - A plan to have private investors build a national wireless broadband network for police and fire departments met resistance at a U.S. Senate hearing Thursday, including from the man in charge of New York's emergency broadband network. Startup Frontline Wireless, backed by two former U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC)Â chairmen and several tech industry heavyweights, would set aside 22MHz of wireless spectrum from an upcoming auction of the 700MHz band for a dual-use commercial and emergency response network with the winning bidder required to build a nationwide network that would give priority to police and fire departments. A national broadband network for emergency response agencies would take billions of dollars to build, and a public-private partnership like the one Frontline has proposed is the only way it will happen, said James Barksdale, president and CEO of investment group Barksdale Management and a partner in Frontline. The U.S. government lacks the money to build the network, he said. "We're not asking agencies to give us the spectrum," Barksdale said. "And public safety gets a free ride on it -- that's a heck of a deal." Six years after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the U.S. and two years after Hurricane Katrina, emergency response agencies across the U.S. still do not have broadband networks that allow agencies to talk to each other, said Barksdale, former CEO of Netscape. "The FCC can achieve, at no cost to taxpayers, an interoperable public safety network that, I submit to you, will never be built if we don't do it this way," Barksdale told the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee. "We are long past the time to talk about what might happen or should happen or is going to happen for public safety. Any serious proposal must address how this costly network will be funded and built without relying on government funds." But several people at the hearing, including Paul Cosgrave, commissioner of the New York City Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications, questioned the Frontline plan. New York has already built a $500 million emergency network that will roll out fully in early 2008, and the Frontline proposal could take away local control of emergency communications networks, he said. Spectrum that's optimal to use for emergency communications in New York may not work for Boise, Idaho, he said. "A national network, based on a one-size-fits-all approach, may not meet the disparate communication needs of emergency responders throughout the country," Cosgrave said. In addition, if emergency responders must share spectrum with commercial providers, the network may be jammed during disasters, Cosgrave said. The proposed network will be "dominated by commercial interests, and deployment and maintenance will be undertaken based on return on investment rather than effective emergency response," he added. The Frontline plan would take 10MHz from 60MHz scheduled to be auctioned by early next year and pair it with 12MHz of spectrum out of 24MHz set aside for public safety. The 84MHz of spectrum is becoming available after Congress voted early last year to require U.S. television stations to abandon the spectrum and move from analog to all-digital broadcasts. The deadline for the transition to digital TV is in February 2009. Under the Frontline plan, the winner of the auction for the 22MHz would be required to build a national broadband network, estimated by Barksdale to cost $12 billion. The network operator could then collect wholesale fees from emergency response agencies and from commercial telecoms that want to use the spectrum to provide broadband services. Frontline is also asking the FCC to create rules that would require the winner of the 22MHz chunk of spectrum to resell access to any customer that can pay. Several consumer groups and tech companies have also called for open access provisions for part of the auctioned spectrum, saying it represents the best chance for a new national broadband provider that would compete with cable and telecom company offerings. The FCC is expected to set service rules on the spectrum to be auctioned within weeks. Representatives of two wireless carriers told the committee they oppose open access rules in the auction. Dick Lynch, executive vice president and CTO at Verizon, suggested open access and net neutrality rules called for by several groups would limit the appeal of the spectrum and drive down the cost the U.S. government receives in the auction. The auction is expected to raise at least $10 billion with many observers suggesting much more money will be bid. "The auction must make the spectrum available in ways that will promote, not cripple, broadband deployment," Lynch said. [Open access and other] requirements are unwarranted, would deter innovation, and would not benefit consumers." Senator Ted Stevens, an Alaska Republican, also questioned the Frontline plan, saying the proposal doesn't address how local police and fire departments will pay for handsets and other equipment used to access the network. The best way to raise money for public safety equipment is to maximize the value of the spectrum at auction, he said. "There's no reason this [spectrum] shouldn't go into the private sector and be profitable, too," he said. Several Democratic senators and Wanda McCarley, president of the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials International, were more receptive of the Frontline plan. The proposal includes many ideas that many emergency response officials want, McCarley said. "With this auction we stand at a crossroads," added Senator John Kerry, a Massachusetts Democrat. "Either we can provide extraordinary benefits to millions of Americans, or we can tilt the broadband policy to improve the already significant position of the powerful few that deliver this service. I think there's a clear path that we have to take -- the airwaves belong to the American people."
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After tragedies such as the Virginia Tech shootings and the Minneapolis bridge collapse, companies are paying more attention to emergency notification services.
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Â· Up to Â£250m a year needed, say insurersÂ· Three dead and hundreds evacuated from homes.
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Michael D. Gallagher and Larry Irving warn that emergency communications technology still dangerously lags behind.
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U.S. Democratic senators on Tuesday  urged the Bush administration to immediately release the $100  million remaining in emergency funds to help poor Americans pay  their winter heating bills.
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The number of ambulances taking over an hour to reach a call-out has doubled since 2000, figures suggest.
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Even as relief efforts begin to provide food and clean water to millions of victims of Sunday&#39;s devastating tsunamis, relief officials are saying much more is needed to prevent an even greater loss of life.
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The world's largest disaster relief agency appealed on Tuesday for nearly $300 million in funding for 2007, some 67 percent more than last year, to help countries prepare for climate change and fight AIDS.