A Broadband Network Cost Model

OBI TECHNICAL PAPER N O . 2

A BROADBAND NETWORK COST MODEL:

A BASIS FOR PUBLIC FUNDING ESSENTIAL TO BRINGING NATIONWIDE INTEROPERABLE COMMUNICATIONS TO AMERICA’S FIRST RESPONDERS

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INTRODUCTION EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The NBP’s vision is to create a communications system that allows public safety agencies to take full advantage of cutting- In March 2010, the FCC released its National Broadband Plan edge broadband technologies. It is therefore essential that (NBP), which made significant recommendations for improv- public safety agencies have access to commercial technologies, ing access to broadband communications across America ruggedized for public safety use. This leveraging of commercial and for enhancing the role of broadband in public safety technologies will enable public safety agencies to achieve great- and emergency response. In particular, the NBP proposed a er communications capabilities, but at much lower costs. comprehensive strategy for creating a nationwide interoper- The NBP’s vision for the future of public safety broadband able public safety broadband wireless network (“public safety communications encompasses several elements: broadband network”) for first responders and other public As shown in Exhibit 1, a multi-pronged approach will provide safety personnel. This strategy includes: public safety with greater dependability, capacity and cost sav- ings. First, the hardened network will provide reliable service ➤ Creating an administrative system that ensures access to throughout a wide area. Second, since emergency responders sufficient capacity on a day-to-day and emergency basis; will be able to roam on commercial networks, capacity and ➤ Ensuring there is a mechanism in place to promote in- resiliency will improve (at a reasonable cost). Third, localized teroperability and operability of the network; and coverage will improve through the use of fixed microcells and ➤ Establishing a funding mechanism to ensure the network distributed antenna systems (DAS)—like those that provide is deployed throughout the United States and has neces- indoor coverage in skyscrapers. Fourth, equipment can be sary coverage, resiliency and redundancy. retrieved from caches and used during a disaster when infrastructure is destroyed, insufficient or unavailable, and fire In this paper, the Omnibus Broadband Initiative (OBI) trucks, police cars and ambulances can become mobile picocells.1 provides support for the NBP’s public funding recommenda- The NBP requests total public funding to support the con- tions for the nationwide interoperable public safety broadband struction and on-going costs of the public safety broadband wireless network. This paper also explains how public safety network. The total present value of the capital expenses and agencies can leverage the deployment of 4G commercial wire- ongoing costs for the network over the next 10 years is ap- less networks to greatly reduce the overall costs of constructing proximately $12-16 billion. State and local governments could their nationwide broadband network. contribute funds to cover some of these costs, and there may be additional cost-saving methods that reduce this estimate—such as sharing federal infrastructure, working with utilities or use of state and local tower sites.

Exhibit 1: The Future of Public Safety Broadband Communications

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The NBP proposes the creation of a public funding program of assumes data and video services via IP transport in the early years, as much as $6.5 billion capital expenses (capex) in constructing evolving to the target of interoperable mission-critical voice, data the public safety broadband network. Public funding will be tar- and video IP networks and applications in the long term, support- geted at constructing a public safety overlay network that exploits ed by necessary innovations for mission-critical service. existing commercial and public safety narrowband infrastructure, An incentive-based partnership model is assumed for the as well as: expanding rural coverage; strengthening existing infra- estimates, (except under Section E), under which public safety structure; and developing an inventory of deployable equipment. network operators will partner with commercial operators or To ensure interoperability, the funding agency should condition systems integrators to construct and operate the network using all funding awards on compliance with Emergency Response the 10 megahertz of 700 MHz public safety broadband spec- Interoperability Center’s (ERIC) requirements. trum. Under this model, the vast majority of sites will be built The public funding program is designed to achieve nationwide by a commercial partner, either a wireless operator, equipment interoperability while preserving a great deal of local flexibility. vendor or a system integrator. The model assumes a 700 MHz Although ERIC will set common standards and practices for the Long-Term Evolution (LTE) network. Costs include installing nationwide network, public safety agencies at the regional or local and operating the dedicated 700 MHz Radio Access Network level may issue Requests for Proposal (RFPs) and then voluntarily (RAN) and sharing back-haul and IP core transport systems, enter into contract with the commercial partners of their choice. including ancillary and support systems and services. The IP This approach will empower each region or locality to satisfy its network architecture enables public safety agencies to have unique communications needs while promoting vigorous compe- their own dedicated servers for applications and services re- tition among commercial operators and systems integrators for quiring high levels of security and privacy. The projected costs public safety customers. are not discounted for competitive bidding dynamics, such as The NBP also suggests a public funding method, such as im- strategic value to RFP respondents.4 posing a minimal public safety fee on all broadband users, to fund The model assumes that the 10 megahertz of 700 MHz public the network’s ongoing costs, which include operating expenses safety broadband spectrum will be “lit” using LTE technology (opex) and appropriate network improvement costs. The public by exploiting commercial infrastructure, which would result in funding agency should be charged with disbursing these funds, significant cost and operating efficiencies. LTE commercial rollout and any use of such funds must contribute to the operation or is planned with availability to 95% of the United States population evolution of the network and comply with ERIC requirements. by 2015.5 The public safety capability will be added to this network The cost model the NBP used to calculate capital expenses with targeted site upgrades. The network will be built to support and ongoing costs for the network and to inform its recommen- standard commercial devices that operate at low power levels of 23 dation for the public funding program was validated through dBm (decibels of the measured power to 1 milliwatt). In-building multiple approaches.2 First, a detailed radio frequency (RF) penetration loss assumptions are assumed for the non-rural model was constructed, and its RF assumptions were validated population areas. Public safety will then be able to achieve bet- through a technical analysis that used data acquired from ter coverage and performance than commercial systems by using several major commercial service providers, their competitors higher-gain devices with specialized antennas. For highly rural and vendors. Costs were based on appropriate comparables, areas, the cost model assumes deployment of a network to support including tariff rates, actual proposals from service providers vehicular coverage with externally mounted antennas (EMA) to for similar network builds and operations, and information ob- achieve 99% population coverage.6 Cell sites in highly rural areas tained directly from service providers, equipment vendors, and are accounted for as a blend of sites built on existing structures integrators. Detailed cost scenarios were also developed—and and new sites. Hardening for all sites is also accounted for in the compared with cost scenarios provided by service providers model,7 and the model further assumes that deployable caches of and equipment vendors—to further validate costs.3 equipment will be available for emergency use.8 Ongoing costs were also calculated on the basis of an ASSUMPTIONS incentive-based partnership model. This model assumes that The NBP’s proposal for a public safety public funding program backhaul, core network, managed IP services and ancillary is designed pragmatically to ensure achievement of high-quality services will be paid through an operating expense charged public safety broadband wireless service. The planned network through a managed service fee. This managed service fee is focuses on data and video service initially. Over time, it will sup- based on the existing air card managed service fee structure— port wireless voice services used routinely by first responders, and with the radio access network (RAN) share of the service eventually the specialized voice services provided to first respond- eliminated, since public safety partners will be using their own ers via the land mobile radio (LMR) service today. The model spectrum for their primary service.9

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There are several factors that result in lower capacity require- ➤ $4.0 billion to equip 41,600 commercial towers with dedi- ments for the core network. These include roaming on commercial cated public safety broadband spectrum RAN capabilities; wireless networks, priority wireless service on commercial broad- ➤ $1.5 billion to harden the commercial towers (improving band 700 MHz networks, deployables (e.g., next generation cells on reliability, particularly when commercial power is lost); wheels (COWS) and cells on light trucks (COLTS)) and in-building ➤ $0.8 billion to equip 3,200 rural towers with public safety supplementation, which provide resiliency for capacity surges, broadband spectrum RAN capabilities by upgrading tow- increased coverage and increased redundancy. ers (75%) and installing and equipping new towers (25%) and hardening those towers; and CAPITAL EXPENSES (CAPEX) ➤ $0.2 billion to provide for a fleet of public safety deploy- As much as $6.5 billion in capital funding will be required over ables (a mix of next generation COWS, COLTS, etc.), a 10-year period to provide advanced public safety broadband vehicular area network systems and non-recurring engi- network capabilities to agencies that collectively serve 99% of neering costs for handset development.10 all Americans. The 10-year estimate of $6.5 billion in capex was developed Based on this model, a reasonable year-by-year projection of based on the following assumptions (see Exhibit 2): capital expenses is depicted in Exhibit 3.11

Exhibit 2: Capex Chart Item Cost Notes 41,600 Commercially Deployed Non-rural Sites $4.0 B Excludes hardening costs Ethernet over fiber backhaul connectivity to commercial carrier’s backhaul Assumes PS RAN (lit) added to 100% of sites (conservative) Hardening of Existing Commercial Sites $1.5 B Assumes 100% of sites need hardening (conservative) 3,200 Rural Sites (includes hardening) $0.8 B Assumes EMA, blend of 25% new and 75% upgraded sites Deployable Equipment and Development $0.2 B COLTS, COWS, vehicular area Distributed systems , NRE for handset development, etc. TOTAL CAPEX $6.5 B

Exhibit 3: Annual Capex Year by Year Spend—CapEx – $M Projection Deployable Equipment Rural Sites Hardening Commercial Sites Commercially Deployed Non-Rural Sites $1,600

$1,400

$1,200

$1,000

$800

$600

$400

$200

$0 Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5 Year 6 Year 7 Year 8 Year 9 Year 10

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ONGOING COSTS In addition, the Plan suggests that this fund be reviewed on As previously noted, public funding, such as broadband user a regular basis. Part of this review should also consider whether fees, will fund the ongoing costs of the network and the net- additional funding is required for network upgrades. work evolution.12 Following a ramp-up coinciding with the network’s expansion, the cost of funding operating costs will COST OF SEPARATE PUBLIC SAFETY NETWORK reach approximately $1.3 billion per year by the 10th year of In this section, we compare costs incurred with an incentive- construction. The $1.3 billion figure was arrived at on the basis based partnership as described in Section B and costs incurred of the following assumptions (see Exhibit 4): when an entirely separate dedicated system (stand-alone network) is built for public safety. While the cost estimates ➤ $0.9 billion for IP Managed Services and Transport for the incentive-based partnership are based on extensive including backhaul and core from commercial operators analysis, the costs of the stand-alone network described here exclusive of opex for the public safety RAN; are less detailed, in part because of the potential range of on- ➤ $0.2 billion for Managed Services for the dedicated public going costs. The comparative analysis results in a $6.3 billion safety RAN; capital cost for the network under the incentive-based part- ➤ $0.2 billion for additional ongoing costs for rural areas nership approach as compared to a $15.7 billion capital cost (microwave backhaul, additional site lease cost, etc.); and for a stand-alone public safety network. The cost comparison ➤ $0.025 billion for operations support for deployable for these two approaches for both capital and operating costs equipment. is even more extreme.

Exhibit 4: Item Cost Notes Ongoing Network Annual OA&M Including Transport Managed Services Fee $0.9 B For 3 million Public Safety Subscribers at $25 per Costs Chart month

Annual RAN Managed Services Fee $0.2 B 44,800 Sites at $1500 per year for site equipment, OA&M, and $2400 for additional lease cost (this achieves a 99% population coverage) Additional costs in rural areas (microwave backhaul, $0.2 B Microwave antenna, power and maintenance additional site lease costs, deployable OpEx) lease; miscellaneous ongoing costs TOTAL ONGOING COSTS $1.3 B

Exhibit 5: Additional Rural Ongoing and Miscellaneous costs RAN Managed Services Fee Ongoing Costs - Annual OA&M Including Transport Managed Services Fee Ramp Up (EXAMPLE) $1,400

$1,200

$1,000

$800

Millions $600

$400

$200

$0 Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5 Year 6 Year 7 Year 8 Year 9 Year 10

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The technical requirements and capabilities under both ap- Governors Association, which posited $19 billion for initial proaches are identical and consistent with the assumptions of capex and total costs of $61 billion over 10 years for capex and this paper. Thus, the total number of cell sites remains 44,800.13 ongoing operations,16 and publicly available information about In an incentive-based partnership, we must consider the mar- the costs of New York City NYCWiN broadband network.17 ginal cost of adding a new radio access network for public safety These results are not surprising given that the incentive-based to an existing tower or site, which already has backhaul to a func- partnership approach leverages the commercial assets of cel- tioning core network. While it may be necessary to harden the lular firms that have large economies of scale by serving 40-100 tower or site, many functions can be leveraged. In contrast, for million customers. By contrast a separate public safety network a stand-alone network, we must estimate the full cost for public would not be able to leverage the same assets nor have the same safety capabilities rather than just incremental costs. The differ- economies of scale, since it would effectively serve only a few ences emerge in the cost per cell site in both capex and opex; the million first responders while providing similar nationwide costs in zoning and site acquisition, because of the need for many coverage. Further, a separate public safety network does not more new cell sites beyond the base required for public safety have similar economies of scope, such as sharing an IP core LMR networks; the costs of backhaul from the cell sites; and the network with other uses. costs for a core network. This lack of scope is compounded if the public safety entity In this analysis, we considered the complexity and scope of is operating on an LTE network that utilizes spectrum in a band constructing a nationwide stand-alone public safety network, class assigned exclusively for the public safety community. in which 80% of the 44,800 sites would be new builds. To avoid This would be the case if the D block was reallocated to public comprehensive due diligence requirements and to reduce safety. In that situation, there would be no commercial service development costs and time to market, wireless carriers and provider in LTE Band Class 14 in the 700 MHz band. While public safety agencies generally prefer to locate on existing technically such a system could be deployed and supported, structures rather than build new towers. However, public safety the costs of the network equipment, most notably the devices, sites must be suitable from a zoning perspective. In many would increase substantially. Without the ability to leverage jurisdictions, especially in suburban and rural areas, towers are the economies of scale of a commercial deployment in a band allowed only on commercially or industrially zoned parcels. class, there is significantly less market incentive to develop net- Some areas allow towers at agriculturally zoned locations, but work equipment and devices capable of operating in that band. most do not allow towers on residentially zoned land, forest Therefore, public safety would have to pay significant premi- land or restricted areas. In addition, sites must not have condi- ums for equipment and devices under such a scenario. tions—such as rocky soil conditions, wetlands, impenetrable trees, possible hazardous waste on properties, high voltage Exhibit 6 compares the costs of these two approaches. power lines and significant distance to the cell tower site from Overall, the partnership reduces capex and opex by at least 60%. the main road where utilities are located—that would make Exhibit 7 provides a cost comparison over a 10-year period constructing a tower extremely expensive. Landowners must for capital and on-going expenses. It shows that the total present also be willing to lease sites at acceptable rates. value of the capital expenses and ongoing costs for the stand- Therefore, we assumed that, in urban areas, there are many alone network over the next 10 years would be approximately different antenna sites, such as roof top locations, that public $41.3 billion or $47.5 billion—with capex at $15.7 billion and safety agencies can leverage. In suburban and rural America, ongoing costs at either two or 2.5 times the total capex amount.18 however, new site acquisition, zoning and construction will in general be substantively higher. Our analysis indicates that a stand-alone public safety network would be substantially more expensive than a network constructed under the incentive-based partnership approach. Conservatively, the stand-alone network would require at least 2.5 times more capex, excluding deployable equipment, and proportionally even more in ongoing costs.14 The total present value of the capital expenses and ongoing costs for the stand- alone network over the next 10 years is approximately $34.4 billion, taking into consideration that capex is $15.7 billion and ongoing costs are 1.5 times the total capex amount.15 This analysis is consistent with both the Verizon study for the Southern

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Exhibit 6: Incentive-Based Comparison Cost of 44,800 Sites Partnership vs. Stand-Alone Public Safety Network Capital Expenses

Exhibit 7: Cost Comparison Over 10 Year Period–Present Value Present Value Cost Comparison

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2. Vehicles equipped with technology that enables the first APPENDIX A: responder occupants of the vehicle to use the vehicle communications systems as a relay connecting their DEPLOYABLE handheld to a remote base station. When the officer leaves the vehicle to go into a building or to the physical EQUIPMENT site of accident (e.g., to investigate a car rolled over an embankment or to pursue a suspect on foot), the hand- The public funding program includes funding for two distinct held device communicates back to the vehicle, which in use cases of public safety deployables: turn relays the communications back to the closest cellular tower—which may be reachable only from a high-gain 1. Rapidly deployable full cellular systems that can be de- vehicle. In effect, the vehicle becomes a vehicular area ployed for public safety use when either: network (VAN).

a) A natural disaster or other emergency has occurred in The deployable caches included in the public funding will a remote area where there is no public safety 700 MHz serve all major metropolitan areas and will include sufficient cellular system (e.g., a train crash with chemical spills in fleets for each state to ensure adequate deployment to reach a remote area or a forest fire in a wilderness area); or any emergency within a small number of hours. b) The working public safety cellular system for a cell site This part of the public funding program also includes money or larger area has been destroyed or is temporarily in- for Non-Recurring Engineering costs for the specialized adequate. The systems deployed in such circumstances chipset and software development to enable the development are sometimes referred to as Cells on Wheels (COWs) of public safety LTE devices in the market that take advantage and Cells on Light Trucks (COLTs). LTE enables a new of commercial capabilities and also ensure the development of generation of this equipment that will be much lighter any specialized needs for public safety devices. For example, than current equipment.19 public safety devices must operate in Band Class 14 and be able to roam into other LTE 700 MHz band classes.

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➤ Subscriber device model: APPENDIX B: ➤ Commercial power levels (23 dBm) for handheld devices, except in highly-rural areas. Public safety NETWORK COST agencies can choose to equip their officers with slightly larger handheld devices with small external antennas MODEL ASSUMPTIONS and larger batteries, thus gaining 2 to 3 decibels (dBs) of additional power. These devices will provide public ➤ Network Build Model: safety officers with superior coverage and high speed ➤ A pragmatic approach that achieves high quality wire- near cell edges. less broadband service using spectrum dedicated for ➤ In highly rural areas the subscriber device supported public safety—the 5+5 MHz public safety broadband by the network is a vehicular device using an exter- spectrum—to provide public safety with a dedicated nally mounted antenna (EMA). Commercial handheld Radio Access Network (RAN). devices will also work in these areas for much of the ➤ Assumes that public safety agencies on an area-by-area area within a cell site, but at reduced speeds as one gets basis will collectively issue a Request for Proposal closer to the cell edge. (RFP) for that area for the building out of the public ➤ The model contains no device funding for handheld or safety broadband network. the vehicular device with the EMA, as that was assumed to be the responsibility of each individual agency. ➤ Potential partners: The respondents to the RFP may ➤ The subscriber devices should be substantially lower in include any of the following: costs than they are today for public safety because of ➤ A commercial wireless operator with an existing the ability to leverage the commercial device ecosys- network, particularly a Long Term Evolution (LTE) tems. In the operating system, the baseband chipset network in the geographic area with 700 MHz spec- and the RF chipset are the components of the device trum (other than the D Block) that adds equipment to that require high volumes to drive costs down. These “light-up” the public safety broadband spectrum; components will also be used in commercial deploy- ➤ A commercial wireless operator who is a D Block auc- ments and thus will be in high volume. tion winner and is simultaneously building out the LTE Band 14 profile that includes both D Block and ➤ Network services: public safety spectrum; or ➤ Data and video services via IP Transport in early years ➤ A systems integrator who is participating by itself or offering a more reliable, high performance, and more building out as part of an Land Mobile Radio (LMR) cost-effective version of the commercial wireless aircard or other build for public safety that builds a broadband services that some public safety officers purchase today. wireless network only for the public safety broadband ➤ Commercial voice via VoIP over LTE in the medium spectrum. term as that becomes available on LTE networks. ➤ The lowest-cost build would be the synchronous build ➤ Interoperable, mission-critical voice, data and video IP with the D Block, while the highest cost build would be networks and applications as the long-term target. a stand-alone build by a systems integrator. ➤ Link budget assumptions: ➤ Funding is based on an asynchronous build where existing ➤ In-building penetration loss assumptions are the same operators’ infrastructure would be expanded to include as commercial LTE except for highly-rural, which is the “lighting” of the public safety 700 MHz broadband modeled for vehicular EMA coverage. As noted above, spectrum to give public safety a dedicated RAN. public safety officers can achieve performance supe- ➤ Assumes LTE commercial rollout availability to 95% of rior to commercial performance with handhelds with the population will be achieved by market forces by 2015. small external antennas. ➤ For the 95% that are likely to be served by LTE-based ➤ LTE Commercial Speeds with 95% area coverage (256 operator plans, this would be an asynchronous expan- Kbps uplink typically) can be achieved on top of an sion by an operator who has built out an LTE network. LTE commercial service cell site infrastructure with ➤ For highly rural America, where there is not market com- minimal site supplementation. mitment for an LTE network, build out was modeled to ➤ Vehicular coverage for highly rural areas to achieve use 2G infrastructure plus new towers where necessary. 99% population coverage.

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➤ Grant funding: ➤ Capital expense assumptions: ➤ Public funding for paying for the RFPs is based on a ➤ Cell sites in rural America are treated as a blended commercial winning bidder installing and operating a build of new sites on existing structures and new sites. dedicated public safety broadband 700 MHz RAN that ➤ $95,000 blended average per site capex for adding shares backhaul, IP Core transport systems, includ- public safety broadband to commercial LTE cell site. ing ancillary and support systems and services. Public ➤ $35,000 hardening per site for commercial LTE sites. safety agencies may choose to operate dedicated serv- ➤ $216,000 average per site capex for adding public ers for specific applications and services that contain safety broadband to existing sites in most rural areas, sensitive information. including $75,000 per site for hardening. ➤ Funding is based on the full costs of dedicated RAN ➤ $363,000 average per site capex for public safety build. There is no discount of the prices included for broadband new sites in the most rural areas, including competitive bidding dynamics, such as strategic value to $75,000 per site for hardening. RFP respondents, although such discounts are likely. ➤ Priority wireless service on commercial networks, deployables and in-building supplementation provides ➤ Operating expense assumptions: for capacity surges, more extensive coverage and more ➤ Backhaul, core network and managed IP services and resiliency, thus lowering site requirements on the core ancillary services provided via wireless operator or network. systems integrator and paid through opex charged for ➤ The model will be refined based on real-life experience in a managed services fee. future public funding years. ➤ Managed service fee based on 2010 aircard managed service fee structure with RAN share of service eliminated. ➤ Annual opex fee incurred for management and maintenance of public safety broadband 700 MHz RAN.

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EQUIPMENT AND COSTS PER SITE CAPEX FOR ADDING APPENDIX C: PUBLIC SAFETY BROADBAND TO EXISTING SITES IN HIGHLY RURAL AREAS, INCLUDING HARDENING. UNDERLYING Rural Site Configuration A and B, for Asynchronous Build EQUIPMENT AND COST Two different types of configurations are used for the underlying equipment for adding public safety broadband to highly FOR CAPITAL EXPENSE rural areas. In addition, structure heights, or distances from the eNodeB to Antennas for the site locations, were evaluated at ASSUMPTIONS 225 feet. Microwave equipment and hardening are also included in the underlying cost analysis.

EQUIPMENT AND COSTS FOR BLENDED AVERAGE PER EQUIPMENT AND COSTS PER SITE CAPEX FOR PUBLIC SITE CAPEX FOR ADDING PUBLIC SAFETY BROADBAND SAFETY BROADBAND NEW SITES IN HIGHLY RURAL TO COMMERCIAL LTE CELL SITES. AREAS, INCLUDING HARDENING. Two different types of configurations (A and B) are used for Non-Rural Site Configuration A and B, for Asynchronous Build the underlying equipment for new sites in highly rural areas. Two different types of configurations (A and B) are used for In addition, structure heights, or distances from the eNodeB the underlying equipment for adding public safety broadband to antennas for the site locations, were evaluated at 225 feet. to commercial LTE cell sites. In addition, structure heights, or Microwave equipment and hardening was also included in the distances from the eNodeB to Antennas for the site locations, underlying cost analysis. New sites in highly rural areas also were evaluated for cost at 75 feet and 150 feet. The main differ- included Site Acquisition and Construction of up to a 225 foot ences between configuration A and B are that configuration A structure/tower. uses rigid coax and configuration B uses fiber and remote radio heads (RRH). Configuration A uses rigid coax from the eNodeB HARDENING at the base of the structure/tower up to the top of the tower or Hardening includes additional batteries and battery cabinet, structure/tower where the antennas are located. Configuration structural analysis and improving the cell-site structure and B uses fiber from the eNodeB at the base of the structure/tower antenna survivability designed for a wind loading, according up to the top of the tower or structure/tower where the anten- to the Electronics Industry Association Structural Standards nas and RRH are located. for Steel Antenna Tower and Antenna Supporting Structures (EIA/TIA-222). For rural sites, hardening also includes adding generators and associated equipment.20

MICROWAVE Microwave equipment includes all equipment, path survey and installation for the microwave system. In addition, FCC applications, coordination and zoning are included in the cost structure.

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REFERENCE

Tessco, http://www.tessco.com/ (last visited March, 6 2010).

Meridian Microwave, http://www.meridianmicrowave. com/#0%20-%206%20miles (last visited March, 6 2010).

Radio Frequency Systems, http://www.lwsonline.de/oxid/ (last visited March, 6 2010).

Huawei, http://www.huawei.com/site_products.do (last visited March, 6 2010).

Powerwave, http://www.powerwave.com/datasheets.asp (last visited March, 6 2010).

Clifford Power Systems, Inc., http://www.cliffordpower.com/ (last visited March, 6 2010).

Fred A. Nudd Corporation, http://www.nuddtowers.com/ (last visited March, 6 2010).

Telecommunications Industry Association, http://www.tiaonline.org/ (last visited March, 6 2010).

Commscope, “Wind Loading on Basic Antennas,” http://www.commscope.com/andrew/eng/support_document/ tech_info/antennas/__icsFiles/afieldfile/2009/07/13/wind_ loading_on_base_stationantennas_white_Paper.pdf

Valere Power Systems, http://www.eltekvalere.com/wip4/ (last visited March, 6 2010). http://www.generac.com/Full_Product_Line/ , (last visited March, 6 2010).

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APPENDIX D: CAPEX FOR PUBLIC SAFETY 700 MHZ BUILDS—STAND-ALONE

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The Omnibus Broadband Initiative acknowledges the efforts of Stagg Newman, Brian Hurley, Jon Peha, Pat Amodio, Ziad Sleem, Behzad Ghaffari, Jeffery Goldthorp, John Leibovitz, Tom Peters, Walter Johnston, Mike Iandolo, Jerome Stanshine, Yoon Chang, Kurian Jacob and Jennifer A. Manner in prepar- ing this paper.

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ENDNOTES

1 For an extensive discussion of how the public safety 10 This assumes a cost range from $100,000 to $400,000 15 Ongoing Costs equal to 1.5 times the total CapEx amount broadband network will use deployable equipment, see for next generation deployable cell sites as well as a cost is the lower bound. Appendix D provides a more detailed Appendix A. of up to $10,000 per vehicle for vehicular area network cost breakdown of the CapEx for the $15.7 B 2 A detailed discussion of the assumptions underlying the systems. 16 See SGA Task Force: Achieving Interoperability for Pub- network cost model is provided in Appendix B. 11 Appendix C provides more detail on the cost model used lic Safety Communications (2007); Response of Verizon 3 Because network designs and assumptions may change to calculate overall capital expenses for the network. Communications and Verizon Wireless (Mar. 16, 2007). over time, it is imperative that the funding agency Actual costs for a particular region for a specific RFP will 17 See Henry Morgenstern, NYCWiN Interoperable Com- ensures that there is an annual review of the funding vary on a line-by-line basis. munications: A Report on the New York City Wireless available for each program. 12 The proposed funding covers network operations. The Network, Counter Terrorist Magazine, Sept./Oct. 2008, 4 Through partnering, RFP respondents will see an funding is not intended to cover the operations of the available at http://www.thecounterterroristmag.com/ effective reduction in capex associated with their own services and applications running on top of that network pdf/Issue3.NYCWiN.Morgenstern.Lo.pdf (last accessed network build out as well as an improvement in reliabil- nor various administrative functions associated with Mar. 26, 2010). See also Department of Information ity through side hardening for public safety. public safety network operations that agencies may in- Technology and Telecommunications, Testimony before 5 See http://www22.verizon.com/Content/ExecutiveCen- cur. These costs which are part of day-to-day operations the City Council Committees on Fire and Criminal ter/Richard_Lynch/mobile_world_congress/mobile_ today which we have assumed will continue to be borne Justice Services, Public Safety, and Technology in Gov- world_congress.htm (last visited Feb. 20, 2010); see also by the local agencies. ernment Oversight – Implementation Status of the New http://www.att.com/gen/press-room?cdvn=news&news 13 Public safety regions could deploy networks with fewer York City Wireless Network (Feb. 25, 2008). articleid=30493&pid=4800 (last visited Feb. 20, 2010). cell sites, but such networks would provide worse 18 See supra 14 6 The model excludes the costs of EMAs, which are performance, slower speeds, and less total capacity. For 19 Letter from Brian Ponte, Vice President for Business De- components of subscriber devices used for vehicular the case of the Stand-Alone build we used 20% existing velopment, LEMKO Corporation, to Marlene H. Dortch, coverage. EMAs are standard equipment used in public public safety sites and 80% new sites, based on the num- Secretary, FCC (Mar. 12, 2010). safety vehicles to improve coverage. ber of LMR sites that typically serve a region compared 20 Many commercial sites today have battery back-up and 7 We assumed $35,000 per site for hardening in non-rural with the number of cellular sites. structural hardening and back-up power systems for areas, and $70,000 per site in highly rural areas. 14 Based on Sprint Nextel and Verizon Wireless annual primary sites but not for secondary sites. The model 8 Portable user equipment or radios with ancillary support reports for 2009, OpEx is approximately twice CapEx. assumed hardening and batteries for all sites with diesel equipment stored and available for emergency use. Based on our analysis, the range of ongoing costs is 1.5 generators as optional. In practice, the funds not needed 9 We have not included any costs that might be incurred to 2.5 times the total CapEx amount, with two times the for sites that are already hardened could be used for for roaming by the public safety operator on a commer- total CapEx amount as the norm. For some Stand-Alone diesel generators at other sites. The localization of the cial network. Public safety will be able to obtain roaming networks, Ongoing Costs could be higher. For these RFP approach allows solutions to be tailored to the local services at favorable commercial rates. reasons, we have estimated costs based on a range. needs and environment.

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