Building a sustainable future for government operational telecommunications

The following is an edited version of the opening keynote address made by Rod Gilmour, chairman of the NSW Telco Authority, at the Comms Connect Sydney conference.

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Thank you Comms Connect for asking the NSW Telco Authority to open today’s proceedings. It’s pleasing to see such a wide representation here this morning, including international guests, to participate in this important conference.

The NSW Telco Authority is all about ‘Building a sustainable future for government operational telecommunications’. In the current environment, everyone everywhere is expected to do more with less - and government is no exception. Organisations’ budgets and staff are under pressure, yet we are all required to do more. Demand for spectrum is increasing, technology is rapidly changing and government needs to keep up. Overlaying all of this is demand for services that rely on improved technology.

The frequency and impact of natural disasters and other major incidents and events are on the rise. It seems that we experience so-called once-in-a-lifetime events more and more. A string of natural disasters have affected Australia over the last few years: for example, the October 2013 bushfires, the Queensland floods (December 2010 and January 2011) and Cyclone Yasi (February 2011), all of which have highlighted the need for improved communications technologies.

In our increasingly connected world, people expect communications to be available and working 24/7. We have all developed an increased dependency on communications to better support the community and emergency services to do their jobs. There is also increased community engagement with available comms to send and receive information in emergencies - the community now relies more on social media than traditional media.

I know radio communications professionals are passionate about what they do and strive to deliver quality services to frontline staff. Traditionally, agencies have been provided with separate budgets to meet their own dedicated communications requirements and as a result there is duplication, waste and inefficiencies. Agencies also have their own unique needs - some are quite small and operational telecommunications is not their area of expertise.

Rod Gilmour, chairman, NSW Telco Authority, speaking at Comms Connect.

The Telco Authority has a unique view across the whole sector that enables us to maximise benefits and identify opportunities to consolidate and coordinate.

The Authority has been set up to harness the opportunities to coordinate on behalf of the NSW Government to make sure we’re doing what’s required to meet community expectations and to be sustainable. Our role is to improve coordination and provide high-quality, efficient services across the operational telecommunications sector that provide much needed support to frontline workers now and into the future. We are here to advocate for the needs and requirements of NSW Government and the community, now and in the future.

The introduction of new technology comes at a cost - but it also provides a chance to improve service delivery to the community. If the sector wants to remain sustainable, we have to make key strategic decisions now and in the coming years to better enable us to fight crime and terrorism, save lives and defend properties under threat from natural causes. A ‘do nothing’ scenario would see a significant investment to maintain and replace current systems, but without any gain in service improvements.

Like many sectors of government, the provision of mobile radio and data services is undergoing reform. We’re getting on with the reform program, which is consistent with the NSW Government’s 2021 plan. We’re delighted to have active and positive support from our former Minister, the Hon. Andrew Constance, who is now the Treasurer. We also already have support from our newly appointed Minister, the Hon. Dominic Perrottet.

The role of the NSW Telco Authority

The Telco Authority supports NSW Government agencies that use operational telecommunications for critical and non-critical purposes. We recognise the important role emergency service and law enforcement agencies have in the community. We are partnering with agencies to fully understand their requirements and plan for the future to make sure we provide the right direction and guidance to meet their needs.

We also coordinate responses to telecommunications outages during major emergencies and natural disasters. We act as a link between carriers and emergency service agencies to protect carrier infrastructure in emergencies because it provides the link between agencies and the community.

The Telco Authority Board has a mix of public and private sector experience. The board provides strategic direction and sets policy for the sector. Our mantra is - if we’re not adding value for our customers, we’re not doing our job.

So what are we doing and what have we done so far? Over the past three years, we’ve learned a lot about what’s out there in terms of infrastructure - and there’s much more work to do. More than 70 NSW Government agencies currently own and/or operate independent radio networks to support their operations. Our investigations have shown that there are over 3200 telecommunications sites across NSW.

We are working with agencies to identify how we can make best use of what we have by coordinating our activities to help save agencies time and money.

Through the use of shared networks and infrastructure, we will be better able to manage increasing demand for spectrum, achieve increasing economies of scale and offer agencies affordable radio services.

The 2014/15 Corporate Plan supports this work. It gives our customers, and the sector more generally, a road map on how we intend to drive service improvements and sector capability, while also increasing efficiency and ensuring we get access to the right resources, tools and information.

I am pleased to advise that last week the Telco board approved the new plan, and details will be available on the Telco Authority website shortly.

The Telco Authority has made significant gains over the past three years. For the first time we have an accurate picture of what infrastructure is out there, and we have worked hard at creating an environment that promotes collaboration between agencies.

All of this work increases efficiencies - allowing agencies to save money and gain access to the latest technology at more competitive prices.

We have undertaken a significant amount of work in better managing contracts with service providers, as well as providing agencies with the support and intelligence to make their own decisions on the most cost-effective way to have their needs met.

We have developed relationships with a broad group of suppliers through the procurement scheme established in 2013. The scheme has allowed organisations to supply equipment, infrastructure and services to the sector, and allows agencies to match the right vendor to the right job. It provides simplified access for NSW Government buyers and industry vendors, and promotes increased competitiveness to enable all agencies to get better value for money.

There are currently over 100 approved private sector suppliers including small and medium businesses participating across NSW.

The future

We are also looking at the long-term strategic direction for operational telecommunications services. This is to ensure that public safety and essential service agencies have the right tools to allow them to deliver services to the NSW community and so that we can explore how the Authority and industry can better support the sector in providing modern, robust and reliable technology to frontline staff.

It will build on sector-wide planning work undertaken in 2013/14 and outline innovative ways to transform the sector from one where agencies need to build, own and operate their own dedicated networks to one where they have access to the right service delivery model.

All of the work we are doing will help to ensure government operational telecommunications remains sustainable and that the people who provide services to the NSW community are able to do their jobs and have the best possible support.

To achieve reform we have had to build our capability - we’ve had real change in our culture and approach. We’ve come a long way and delivered real results in the last three years. These things only happen when you have an effective management team - they understood the task and are getting on with it.

At the same time, we have a board that is focused on setting the overall strategic direction. I am confident that the board and Authority management, with support from the Minister, will continue to deliver results based on the objectives that are set out in our 2014/15 Corporate Plan.