Public Safety prioritisation on commercial networks

More and more countries are considering implementing broadband Public Safety (PS) services over MNO networks. There are many benefits in this approach:

• MNOs have already widely rolled out LTE allowing a fast time to market of PS broadband services on top of their commercial network.
• MNOs have usually a large amount of spectrum whereas in many countries there is very little or no spectrum available for a PS dedicated network.
• Sharing the network with MNOs can reduce the total cost of ownership for the PS agencies.
• Hosting PS services can benefit the image and brand of the MNO.

However, running PS services over commercial networks places many constraints on the network architecture. PS users have the most stringent requirements for network and service accessibility and service quality. During a major event, the MNO network might suffer congestion preventing PS users gaining critical access. Therefore, different prioritisation mechanisms need to be implemented.

This white paper will review the different prioritisation mechanisms that already exist, and also the legal aspects to be considered to implement them. We will also provide some feedback from Public Safety end users and from early adopter ESN in the UK.