The Wireless Revolution

Abstract

Within the coming decade, new commercial wireless technologies will dramatically reshape emergency management practices. Public mobile communications products and services are already becoming important communications tools within the emergency management and public safety communities, offering cost-effective and flexible alternatives to traditional land mobile radio systems. The potential benefits of commercial mobile wireless systems are far from assured, however, as numerous technical, regulatory, and economic uncertainties remain to be resolved. Using Canada as a case study, this chapter describes the growing role of commercial wireless services in emergency management, examines the potential vulnerability of mobile telecommunications networks to environmental hazards and identifies a number of important policy and technical concerns relevant to emergency preparedness planning in Canada. It presents a risk assessment protocol developed during the research project, suggests ways in which this protocol may be implemented to enhance cooperative efforts in emergency telecommunications planning, and outlines steps for developing a new national emergency telecommunications strategy.