700 MHz Spectrum Proposal Rocks Public Safety

Telecom Policy Report, May 1, 2006

Cyren Call's petition says the proposal "paves the way to a workable, self-sustaining business model for public-safety communications" and represents "a unique, historic opportunity" due to DTV to clearance to harness the most useful frequencies that broadcasters will vacate by 2009.

It also leverages a December 2005 FCC report that stressed the urgency expressed by public safety officials at the federal, state, local and regional levels for additional allocations at 700 MHz band remains.

Public Safety On The Short End

Cyren Call also points out the public sector has not had the necessary funding or spectrum to achieve its lofty goals plus there is a fundament market failure surrounding public safety communications. In practice, according to Cyren Call, the average household has more advanced telecom options than first responders and that gap continues to widen.

"The problem stems from a mismatch between public safety's communications needs and the market's incentive to meet the needs of this critical audience," it said, adding there are roughly three million public-safety first responders (law enforcement, fire services and emergency medical personnel) representing a proportionately very small population compared to the general population served by wireless carriers.

Public safety also is fragmented into smaller, geographically dispersed communities with widely varying and constrained budgetary resources, so Cyren Call's public-private proposal also contrasts with the government entities traditionally owning and operating independent systems. O'Brien also claimed there is "enormous, bipartisan political support for giving America's first responders more robust, interoperable communications tools but, until now, we have not had the means." He maintained that public-safety communications equipment also costs more than commercial equipment, because the limited market undermines economies of scale.

Among several different spectrum initiatives currently in the works is the FCC's upcoming June 29 auction of so-called Advanced Wireless Services (AWS) bands for third-generation (3G) offerings (TelecomWeb news break, April 26) and its work with the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to migrate the spectrum from federal government users to non-federal use (TPR, April 24).

Akin to the DTV action impacting broadcasters, there also are legislative proposals to use broadcast "white spaces" as alternative for broadband deployment; these have had several industry endorsements, including most recently from the National Telecommunications Cooperative Association (NTCA) that represents rural and small community telcos.

[Copyright 2006 Access Intelligence, LLC. All rights reserved.]