Australian Communications minister Malcolm Turnbull moves to streamline spectrum spread
Turnbull is pushing ahead with his plans to overhaul the government’s approach to spectrum management, leaving open the possibility of consolidating the three licence categories into a single licensing framework
The single framework idea is one of the 11 proposals put up for consideration by the government as it seeks to devise a more efficient and sustainable spectrum market.
“The move to a single licensing framework would substantially assist with streamlining the allocation and reallocation processes that are currently specific to the particular licence category. For example, this would remove the need for the existing detailed legislative process required to convert an apparatus licence into a spectrum licence. Instead, replanning and reallocation would be facilitated through the appropriate use of licence terms,” the government said.
Spectrum for emergency services
While ensuring that existing spectrum ensure capacity is not left unused is a key policy objective for the government the directions paper does not address the knottier issue of dedicating wireless spectrum exclusively for the radio networks of state emergency services and police agencies.
The police federation has waged a long campaign to get a slice of the 700Mhz spectrum left on the table after the last spectrum auction for emergency services, however, that appeal so far has borne little fruit.
The former Labor government, with the backing of ACMA, opted to provide 10MHz in the 800MHz band for public safety mobile broadband (and 50MHz for short-range use), maintaining that the 800MHz band was the most appropriate option for the provision of emergency services.
This offer was knocked back by the police federation. Meanwhile, Telstra, which opposes any dedicated allocation of the precious 700MHz is driving ahead with its own proposal to for emergency services to run their communications over its existing networks.
Last month, the telco signed a memorandum of understanding with Motorola Solutions to work together on public safety broadband solutions, for use during large scale emergencies.
The solutions will be based on the Telstra's LTE Advanced Network for Emergency Services (LANES) capability, in conjunction with Motorola Solutions’ dynamic prioritisation, smart public safety applications, interoperability solutions and public safety optimised devices.
According to Telstra, its LANES solution will provide dedicated, priority broadband data access to emergency services during a large scale incident and ensure that critical information can be shared in real time with and between emergency service operatives who need to make quick and accurate decisions in the field.