Underlining the importance of sharing knowledge and experience as critical broadband becomes a reality, Canada’s Public Safety Broadband Network (PSBN) Innovation Alliance has announced its membership of TCCA. TCCA is the global representative organisation and advocate for open standards for the critical communications ecosystem, bringing together stakeholders worldwide in both narrowband and broadband critical network technologies, products and services.

The PSBN Innovation Alliance (PIA), Canada’s first and only not for profit PSBN governance association, was founded in 2019 by Halton Police, Peel Police, and the Greater Toronto Airports Authority (GTAA). Representing the needs of public safety, first responders and critical infrastructure operators, the PIA has successfully established Canada’s first operating, dedicated PSBN. With a coverage footprint that serves more than 2.5 million residents of Ontario, this PSBN represents Canada’s first municipally shared public safety LTE core.

Members of the PIA include government entities, public safety agencies, national and regional telecoms carriers, service providers in the utilities, air and transport sectors, technology manufacturers, software firms and research and development organisations. The PIA has established working relationships between all members in order to manage, coordinate, promote and maintain the PSBN. The focus is on common advocacy in aspects of PSBN policy that will help bring cost-effective, cybersecure, reliable and resilient access to data wherever and whenever needed by first responders. In the process, this initiative is also helping to bring rural broadband connectivity to the wider Canadian communities by bridging the digital divide.

“We are very excited to join the ranks of our peers in Public Safety critical communications from around the world,” said Deputy Chief Anthony Odoardi – Executive Director of Canada’s PSBN Innovation Alliance/Deputy Chief of the Peel Regional Police Service in Ontario, Canada. “We are looking forward to collaborating, learning from, and sharing our experiences with the dedicated and professional Public Safety communications operators who are currently members of TCCA. In Canada, as in the rest of the world, secure, reliable, and high-performance communications for our first responders and critical infrastructure operators is seen as a critical factor in ensuring the safety and security of our citizens for current and future generations.”

“On behalf of TCCA, I extend a very warm welcome to the PSBN Innovation Alliance as they join our global critical communications community,” said Kevin Graham, TCCA CEO. “We look forward to their valuable contributions, and the insights they can share from Canada as they join other international member peers and industry in co-operating and collaborating through TCCA to evolve mission critical capability for critical users everywhere.”

Earlier this year, the Temporary National Coordination Office (TNCO) of Public Safety Canada published a comprehensive report - A Public Safety Broadband Network for Canada - regarding the deployment of a future national PSBN. The report highlights TNCO’s findings on options and recommendations for a Canadian PSBN while also presenting a consolidated view resulting from discussions and activities with stakeholders, technical and operational experts, and the user community.

The PIA played a large part in collaborating with stakeholders and in proposing a working hybrid PSBN model to the TNCO committee, based on its own successful approach in Ontario. The TNCO report is aligned with the operating models developed and deployed by the PIA, which continues to collaborate heavily on this portfolio. The PIA looks forward to developing and finalizing a PSBN governance approach across Canada with our partners.

“On behalf of Canadian first responders and our partners in the PIA, we sincerely appreciate our membership in TCCA and applaud the important work of TCCA and the entire international PPDR (Public Protection and Disaster Relief) community,” noted Chief Stephen Tanner of the Halton Regional Police Service. “The PIA has been a key voice for Canadian first responders, advocating for an equitable and community safety oriented vision for our telecommunications policies in Canada. Ontario’s PSBN – and Canada’s national PSBN system – will be our critical technology framework for 9-1-1 operations over the next 25 years and beyond. First responders’ access to ‘always-on’ critical data in the moments that matter, across natural disasters and in day-to-day 9-1-1 calls across Canada, will help save countless lives over the years ahead.