Peter Clemons on ESMCP: Now is the time to put up or shut up!
The ludicrously ambitious plan - ESMCP - concocted by the UK Home Office to replace the existing nationwide TETRA-based emergency services network - Airwave - has now reached a truly critical stage. So now is the time to put up or shut up!
Peter Clemons, Founder, Quixoticity writes today at LinkedIn Pulse that he is no massive fan of a private monopoly operation such as Airwave & he is definitely not determined to see the mature TETRA technology remain at the core of UK public safety communications forever & ever. However, the critical communications specialist is deeply concerned about the way the Emergency Services Mobile Communications Project (ESMCP) has been run from beginning to end in a process totally lacking transparency, accountability or sufficient opportunities for checks & balances & completely ignoring what the rest of the world is doing.
However, according to Clemons, that does not mean that during 2016, police officers, firemen & paramedics should start fighting for resources with teenagers & businessmen over the same congested, best-effort commercial network that is unlikely to cover the whole country for many years to come leaving many rural communities vulnerable to all kinds of nasty events.
Clemons says in his new article: "We therefore have a recipe for disaster, meaning that a badly conducted Government project could actually do more harm than good to LTE as a viable solution for nationwide public safety in the longer term".
In general, the timelines of the transition from narrowband TETRA to broadband LTE (for public safety usage) is too fast and Clemons would like to see:
- more Public Safety 4G tests to be done
- finalize the development of public safety standards within 3GPP
- better coverage of 4G
In fact, Clemonst states that the UK Emergency services should not now to move from TETRA to LTE. It is to early.
Clemons ends the article with: "This is our last opportunity to re-think this whole process & re-engage with all the stakeholders before it is too late. We owe this to the brave men & women who keep us safe every day & every night. They need the best possible tools available to do the job & we, as a nation, must be prepared to fund such solutions".
Click here to read the full article
