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Debate over radio spectrum space continues
The debate over whether or not emergency organisations should have to compete for radio spectrum space continues with police, fire fighters and hospitals from across the EU joining together to try and secure radio frequencies for their own services – in contradiction with the EU Commission’s market-driven and flexible approach.
Terrorist incidents in Madrid and London revealed limitations in communication systems when dealing with mass emergencies as mobile phone networks suffered due to concentration of phone calls – both from members of the public and the emergency services.
Both in Britain and Spain the shortfalls were registered as a consequence of the scare radio spectrum available for police and ambulances – according to a study entitled “Safety First” commissioned by Motorola and EADS (download here).
Currently EU public safety authorities have two blocks of 5MHz to use for their services. But the study argues many cities are “already operating at full capacity”. When a major incident takes place these networks suffer and incident management becomes a lot harder.
The Commission in Brussels though continues to favour a flexible approach based on spectrum trading believing that by removing the fixed allocation system they have removed the potential for frequencies to go unused. Furthermore they say that as new technology is developed it wil help to increase the efficiency of frequency use.
