December 22, 2006
FCC: Build wireless emergency broadband network
The Federal Communications Commission is proposing a national wireless,
IP-based, broadband emergency network to be built by private companies,
the BBC reports.
Earlier this year, I had an opportunity to hear local public safety
personnel recount their experiences on the ground during the tragic
events of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, said Deborah Taylor Tate,
commissioner at the FCC in a statement. Their eyewitness accounts
underscore how important it is that our nation's first responders have
access to reliable and redundant communications in the event of an
emergency, and how much remains to be done before those tools are
available.
The proposed network would use the 700MHz band of the radio spectrum,
which is already allocated to public safety. It can travel over long
distances and penetrate walls.
Our country is teeming with entrepreneurs, willing and able to
invest and take the risks necessary to accelerate the development and
roll-out of advanced services, said Commissioner Robert McDowell. The
same market and technological forces that have made advanced wireless
services an everyday part of living for the vast majority of Americans
can and should be leveraged by the public safety community, he added.
The network would deliver for the first time a fully unified emergency
communications system for the entire country.
Kevin Martin, chairman of the FCC in the US said any decision to
implement a new network would fall to the federal government. If
Congress determines that additional spectrum resources in the 700MHz
band should be allocated to public safety, the commission would
implement that determination.
http://government.zdnet.com/?p=2791
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