See this article in the ColoradoBiz Magazine by Dan McVaugh- President of the Colorado Wireless Association
about the importance of mobile connectivity for first responders.
http://www.cobizmag.com/Trends/Colorados-Wildfire-Season-Shines-Spotlight-on-Mobile-Connectivity/
This summer’s wildfire season in Colorado continues to place a spotlight on the state’s communications
infrastructure and the need for consistent, capable and reliable networks. As residents and first responders
have found time and again, dependable connectivity via mobile devices is the key to more reliable emergency
response. Whether it’s calling for help or sending evacuation alerts, all-clear signals and traffic advisories,
mobile networks have proven essential to sharing critical safety information efficiently.
Over the past decade, mobile connectivity has become paramount to public safety, specifically disaster
mitigation and response. Today, 80 percent of 9-11 calls to police, firefighters and other first responders are
initiated on mobile phones. Further, “mobile alerts” have become the default method for first responders to
notify the public of critical real-time safety information – these alerts are now utilized for everything from
active shooter to weather to missing child emergencies.
The most obvious example of connectivity being at the heart of emergency service is the Wireless Emergency
Alerts (WEA) system, which enables government officials to target emergency alerts to specific geographic
areas – Denver’s LoDo, for example. Since its launch in 2012, the WEA system has been used more than
33,000 times nationwide to alert Americans of potential dangerous situation via mobile phone.
It’s no secret the demand for mobile connectivity is growing exponentially in Denver and across the Unites
States. According the Centers for Disease Control, over half of American households are wireless only and
the average household has 13 connected devices – and this is just the tip of the iceberg. As smartphones,
tablets and wearable devices become more advanced and new technologies like 5G enable lightning-fast data
speeds, the appetite for mobile will only continue to grow. According to Cisco, in North America alone, mobile
data traffic will reach 6.4 Exabytes per month by 2021 (the equivalent of 1,599 million DVDs each month).
Understanding the reality that we are only going to become increasingly reliant on mobile connectivity for
safety, the natural question becomes, what must be done to ensure these systems don’t fail? While there is no
silver bullet to make these systems fail-proof, there are common sense upgrades to our communications
infrastructure that must take place to minimize the likelihood of a breakdown.
To deal with increased data traffic, we must modernize our existing infrastructure to handle more capacity by
supplementing existing infrastructure with small antenna or nodes known as small cell solutions or just “small
cells” for short. Small cells are exactly what they sound like, small low powered antennas located near the end
user, usually on a utility pole or streetlight, that add much-needed capacity to our existing networks.
While small cell networks will certainly make videos, texts and games download faster which has broad economic
implications, the real value of creating a robust and resilient wireless network is in times of crisis. The ability to
call for help or to reach a loved one to make sure they are safe during a disaster is unquantifiable.
A recent example of small cells at work during in a disaster can be found in Houston, Texas. Houston upgraded
the city’s wireless infrastructure for the 2017 Super Bowl; however, that network also helped with emergency
communications just seven months later when Hurricane Harvey hit the city. Metrics show the long-term
investments in permanent infrastructure improvements made by the wireless industry increased both network
resiliency and performance.
The good news is companies are already deploying small cell infrastructure in Denver. Major wireless carriers
and communication infrastructure companies alike are deploying nodes across the city.
Another benefit of small cell infrastructure upgrades is the technology will serve as the backbone for future
networks such as 5G, which promise to turn innovations including IoT (the Internet of Things), autonomous
vehicles, and citywide data sharing into reality.
Finding better ways to employ mobile technology that ensures Coloradans remain safe during an emergency
needs to be a top priority for our community leaders. But we need the infrastructure to take advantage of that.
Our communities deserve access to the best communication tools available when they need it the most.
Dan McVaugh is the president of the Colorado Wireless Association.
