Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Wireless priority: Crisis aid N.C. will see emergency officials' calls connect first

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 23 Feb 2003 16:37:01 -0500

Posted on Sun, Feb. 23, 2003

Wireless priority: Crisis aid N.C. will see emergency officials' calls connect first
SARAH JANE TRIBBLE
Staff Writer

It's an emergency worker's nightmare: During a disaster, communications with other agency
officials are cut off and
mobile phones are jammed.

To eliminate that possibility, federal leaders are rolling out a nationwide plan that's
expected to hit the Carolinas this
year.

Under the program, called Wireless Priority Service or WPS, high-level government and
emergency officials in the
Carolinas will be given priority wireless telephone use by the end of 2003 during
disasters.

Mobile telephone carrier Cingular is working out the details for the service in the
Carolinas, federal officials say. A
Cingular spokeswoman declined to predict when the program would be ready, but said
"negotiations are ongoing and
we anticipate offering this service in the future." Other companies are also expected by
federal officials to offer the
service at some point.

Authorized personnel would use up to 25 percent of a carrier's network capacity in case of
an emergency, such as a
terrorist attack or a hurricane, federal officials said.

While the service would not allow the authorized people to interrupt other calls already
in progress, it would mean
their calls would go through, even if the system were jammed.

"We've known for a long time that we've needed to do something with wireless services,"
said John Graves, program
director for the wireless initiative for the government's National Communications System.

Emergency officials in the Charlotte area have said they need more federal money to
improve radio and phone
communications to prepare for a possible catastrophe. Under today's conditions, various
counties wouldn't be able to
talk with city officials or emergency organizations.

"The use of wireless as backup communication in an emergency is very important," said Wynn
Mabry, Mecklenburg
County's homeland security director. "Particularly if you have different agencies
responding and trying to collaborate
when officials in many different places are on the move."

Giving priority calls to U.S. national security and emergency personnel during disasters
has been available on land-line
phones nationwide since 1995, but funding for the wireless phone program began after the
Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist
attacks.

The sheer number of calls on wireless networks in New York the day of the attacks
overloaded mobile phone
networks, blocking 90 percent of the calls attempted, according to a report by the
Cellular Telecommunications &
Internet Association.

After the event, federal officials called on wireless carriers and manufacturers to
rapidly develop a program. Initial
funding of $208 million has been granted to roll out the program with a few carriers using
one technology.

Since then, the wireless priority services have become available in a number of cities.
T-Mobile, previously
VoiceStream Wireless, introduced a pilot program in Washington, D.C., and New York in May
2002. The company
added 13 cities, including Atlanta and Richmond, Va., in December.

Graves says the Carolinas are a prime place for the program and would have liked to start
it sooner.

"It's really a disappointment not to be able to do that because Hurricane Alley goes up
the coast of the Carolinas and
that's a disaster prone state," Graves said.

More federal funding is needed to get more carriers involved in the program and make it
truly nationwide, Graves
said.

In the Carolinas, Cingular won't predict when the system will be available for its users.
And other companies, which
may join the program later, say they don't know either.

While the program is not mandatory, federal officials have targeted some of the country's
biggest mobile phone
carriers, such as Verizon and Sprint PCS as essential in making the program successful.

Federal regulators are charged with funding the developments and wireless carriers will
then sign deals with the
government to operate the programs.

"It's really the duty and the responsibility of the NCS to roll out this capability with
as many carriers as possible in
order for this burden be spread among all the carriers," said Travis Larson, a spokesman
for the Cellular
Telecommunications & Internet Association, which represents most major U.S. carriers.

In Charlotte, mobile phone companies bid for government contracts. Wayne Broome,
Mecklenburg County emergency
management director, said he expects that when the service becomes available in the
Carolinas there will be a
bidding war for government business.

"They're going to go to emergency response organizations throughout the nation in order to
try to sell it and convince
the buyer," Broome said.

http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/news/local/5243422.htm
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