Sharing the 700 MHz Public Safety Broadband Network with Utilities

1. Sharing the 700 MHz Public Safety Broadband Network with Utilities Brett Kilbourne VP and Deputy General Counsel Utilities Telecom Council Broadband Breakfast October 15, 2013

2. About UTC • UTC is the international association for the telecom and IT interests of electric, gas and water utilities and other critical infrastructure industries. • Formed in 1948, Based in Washington, DC • Membership includes all utilities, including investor-owned, cooperatively organized and municipal utilities. UTILITIES TELECOM COUNCIL - The Voice of Critical Infrastructure Communications

3. Benefits of Sharing with Utilities • Utilities and Public Safety have similar communications needs and are compatible users of the spectrum. • Utilities lack suitable spectrum to meet current and future needs, but have access to other resources for broadband network. • Utilities have partnered with public safety on both local and statewide shared systems. • Partnerships create economies of scale and are spectrally efficient, promoting international and national equipment development. UTILITIES TELECOM COUNCIL - The Voice of Critical Infrastructure Communications

4. Shared Costs – What can the Utility Contribute to a PS Partnership? • Secure sites surrounded by population - Subs • Existing “Verticality” – 70’ Drop poles • Backhaul facilities – fiber • Experienced Construction crews • Long term infrastructure maintenance • Reliable Backup Power • Long Term Financial Stability - $ UTILITIES TELECOM COUNCIL - The Voice of Critical Infrastructure Communications

5. Public Safety Broadband Network – LTE and Prioritization • LTE currently supports nine Quality of Service (QoS) Class Identifiers (QCI), which defines if a “bearer” has a Guaranteed Bit Rate and also sets up the minimum queuing priority, latency, and packet-loss attributes that the network must provide for each bearer, and an application, device, or user may have multiple bearers established to carry the traffic. • ARP defines the priority of the bearer and its susceptibility to pre-emption or whether or not it can establish a connection to begin with. A bearer on a device or application (or perhaps a user) can have either a very low priority or a very high priority. On a given device it is possible to have a very high priority on a specific function (such as emergency call) or very low, best effort (such as meter data). As a result, on the same device, it’s possible to have 15 variations on a condition where critical data continues to flow while non-critical data is rejected until the congestion clears. • MBR and AMBR control the maximum bit rate of a bearer and can be used to scale back the available bit rate that an application, device, or user is allowed under congestion conditions. MBR is done “per bearer” for applications with a GBR while AMBR controls the aggregate bit rate on a device for all applications without a GBR. These controls can also be prior to congestion as a preventative measure to keep a high-priority user from hogging all the bandwidth with, for example, a HD video stream. UTILITIES TELECOM COUNCIL - The Voice of Critical Infrastructure Communications

6. Public Safety Broadband Network – Governance • Some examples of utilities that share systems w/ public safety: • NV Energy, Nashville Electric Service, Nebraska Public Power District, and Southern Company • Governance based on cost-sharing principles and network policies, including prioritization and network access. • Infrastructure available – utilities and public safety contribute infrastructure Infrastructureequipment – utilities and public safety contribute equipment • Backhaul – utilities and public safety both contribute backhaul equipment • End point devices – mobile terminals, handheld radios, laptop network cards, utility end points (each group maintains their own end-point devices) • Maintenance and Repair – utilities may provide these services and then share the costs with public safety at the end of the year. • Governance models from these examples could be applied to FirstNet. • Utilities need representation on FirstNet and/or Advisory Committee. UTILITIES TELECOM COUNCIL - The Voice of Critical Infrastructure Communications

7. Public Safety Broadband Network – Partnerships and the RFP Process • Public Safety wants to partner with utilities. • Access to utility infrastructure and other resources • Interoperability during emergencies • Sustainability of the network from base of utility end-use devices • RFP process should provide meaningful opportunity for utilities to participate. • Flexibility: multiple opportunities to bid on some or all of the requirements in the RFP in a regional, state, local or tribal area. • Consistent w/ Spectrum Act provisions for “open, transparent and competitive” RFP process. • Centralized process could discourage utility participation and limit potential partners to a handful of nationwide commercial providers. UTILITIES TELECOM COUNCIL - The Voice of Critical Infrastructure Communications

8. QUESTIONS? Brett Kilbourne Utilities Telecom Council Brett.kilbourne@utc.org 202-833-6807