New Delhi: The Union Home Ministry plans to build a dedicated nationwide broadband network for police, central armed police forces, disaster relief and other emergency personnel, and has invited suggestions from the public on its design and technical architecture.
The proposed network, called Broadband Public Protection and Disaster Relief (BB-PPDR), is meant to give about 30 lakh personnel secure and fast communication, including voice, video and data, during emergencies, the ministry said in a statement.
It will offer Mission Critical Push-to-Talk (MCPTT), Mission Critical Data and Mission Critical Video services, allowing personnel to send instant voice messages, share essential data and relay video of a situation. The network will cover state and Union Territory police, the Central Armed Police Forces, the National Disaster Response Force, fire services, medical services and other public safety agencies.
The ministry has identified ten pilot locations across different geographical conditions: Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Amritsar, Bastar, Bengaluru, Guwahati, Ladakh, Lakshadweep, Mumbai, Rudraprayag and Visakhapatnam. A detailed timeline for the trials was not given.
About 30 lakh handsets are estimated to be needed, to be divided into three categories: 21 lakh rugged field handsets, six lakh smartphone-grade devices for senior officers, and three lakh fixed or vehicle-mounted units. The number of body-worn cameras is yet to be decided.
The ministry has received an in-principle allotment of spectrum in the 814-824 MHz and 859-869 MHz bands, which are separate from common mobile broadband frequencies.