WASHINGTON, D.C. – September 13, 2011 – President Obama‘s proposal to fund the development and initial deployment of a public safety nationwide wireless broadband network would lead to the creation of an estimated 100,000 new jobs, according to a recently released report, APCO International announced today.

The study titled, The Contributions of Information and Communications Technologies to American Growth, Productivity, Jobs and Prosperity by economists Robert J. Shapiro and Aparna Mathur details how the jobs will be created in Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) based on the President‘s proposal to invest $10.7 billion in a Public Safety Broadband Network (PSBN). The 26-page report analyzes the current use of labor and capital by ICT companies and prevailing wages and concludes that nearly $8 billion of the initial funding of the PSBN would go to salaries, sufficient to produce 74,000 new ICT jobs. In addition, the remaining, nearly $3 billion in new capital investments would support some 20,000 additional jobs.

“At a time when the economic outlook and job prospects in our nation are most challenging, this study provides one more critical reason for Congress to swiftly enact S.911 and allocate the D block spectrum to public safety to create a reliable, interoperable public safety broadband network,” said APCO International‘s President Gregg Riddle. “With the 10-year remembrance of 9/11 this past week, and the continued calls for Congress to meet the 9/11 Commission‘s outstanding recommendation, this report further underscores the immediate economic, as well as safety and security, need for this network, both to keep our nation safe during terrorist attacks, natural disasters and everyday emergencies, and to help spark the economy with new, positive job creation. Indeed, it begs the question, ‘What exactly is Congress waiting for before they will act on this bipartisan legislation?'”

S.911 is just one of five bills that have been introduced since January 2011, which allocate the D block to public safety (the other bills are HR607, HR2482, S.28 and S.1040). All five bills address public safety‘s top priorities – allocating the D Block to public safety, providing $10-12 billion in funding to build out the broadband network, establishing the necessary independent governance to manage the build out, maintenance and operations of the network with sufficient state-local government and public safety representation, and offsetting the deficit by auctioning other spectrum bands. In addition to auctioning other spectrum bands, other cost savings could be seen from the creation of a PSBN. According to the study, the new network and its technologies could increase the productivity of police and fire agencies by at last 1 percentage point per year, producing direct efficiency savings of nearly $2 billion per year. The indirect benefits from a nationwide public safety network could total another $2 billion to $6 billion per year.

The Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) commissioned the report. To read the full study visit http://www.tiaonline.org/. To read more about the creation of a Public Safety Broadband Network, visit www.psafirst.org.

About APCO International
APCO International is the world‘s largest organization of public safety communications professionals. It serves the needs of public safety communications practitioners worldwide—and the welfare of the general public as a whole—by providing complete expertise, professional development, technical assistance, advocacy and outreach.