By Jeffrey Silva
May 12, 2006
WASHINGTON—Law enforcement and first-responder groups asked key Senate
lawmakers to consider a private-sector plan to designate a block of
spectrum in the 700 MHz band for a national wireless broadband
public-safety network, one that would be shared with commercial wireless
carriers and include an interoperability capability policy-makers have
repeatedly call for—without success—since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorists
attacks.
“We are dedicated to ensuring that public safety has access to the most
advanced technology to support those services that meet its stringent
requirements to provide safety and security to all Americans. Congress
and the [Federal Communications Commission] cannot afford to pass an
opportunity to explore the availability of an additional 30 megahertz of
spectrum that would meet public safety’s needs as well as elevate the
safety of all Americans,” stated the organizations in a letter to Senate
Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) and the panel’s
ranking Democrat, Sen. Daniel Inouye (Hawaii).
The letter was signed by officials of the Association of Public-Safety
Communications Officials-International, International Association of
Chiefs of Police, International Association of Fire Chiefs, Major Cities
Chiefs Association, Major County Sheriffs’ Association and National
Sheriffs’ Association.
The groups said they are studying the proposal submitted by Cyren Call
Communications Inc. to the FCC late last month, and have not decided
whether to endorse it. “However,” they stated, “we do believe that the
concept of reallocating the 30 megahertz of spectrum in the 700 MHz band
in a manner that would promote interoperable, public-safety broadband
communications is worthy of public discussion.”
A public debate that could prompt lawmakers to reconsider plans to
auction by February 2008 valuable spectrum in the 747-762 MHz and
777-792 MHz bands is precisely what the cell-phone industry wants to avoid.
Mobile-phone carriers are keenly aware of how Cyren Chairman Morgan
O’Brien won over policy-makers in the late 1980s when he presented the
then-radical idea of cobbling together narrow radio dispatch frequencies
to create Nextel Communications Inc. (now part of Sprint Nextel Corp.).
Nextel became a competitor to the cellular duopoly at that time.
National mobile-phone carrier executives have not forgotten either about
Nextel’s successful campaign to remedy interference Nextel caused to 800
MHz radio systems in a way that secured Nextel 10 megahertz of spectrum
in the 1.9 GHz band.
Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.), chairman of the House telecom and Internet
subcommittee, is the only lawmaker to publicly voice outright opposition
to Cyren’s proposal. Upton did so shortly after Cyren submitted its
proposal to the FCC on April 27. The Michigan lawmaker argued the plan
would disrupt the balance in legislation that forced broadcasters to
surrender 700 MHz as part of their transition to digital technology, set
aside 24 megahertz for public safety and earmarked $1 billion for
public-safety interoperability deployment. The 24 megahertz already
reserved for public safety is adjacent to the separate, clear chunk of
30 megahertz at the heart of Cyren’s initiative. The 30 megahertz is
potentially worth billions of dollars in auction receipts for the U.S.
Treasury. In addition to mobile-phone carriers, wireless Internet and
computer firms have expressed interest in the 700 MHz spectrum to drive
WiMAX and other wireless broadband technologies.
“While the FCC is currently exploring whether its rules should be
modified to permit broadband use in a portion of the 24 megahertz now
allotted for wideband use, that will only address a small part of public
safety’s future requirements. As we have argued since the Public Safety
Wireless Advisory Committee report of 1996, an additional spectrum
allocation is needed,” the six public-safety associations told Stevens
and Inouye.
Link below ;
http://rcrnews.com/news.cms?newsId=26358
---
---
--
WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org
Subscribe/Unsubscribe:
http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless
Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
