White House eyes spectrum for public safety

[ProSense]

Source: Reuters

(Reuters) - The White House will support legislation ensuring a block of airwaves are used for public safety rather than going to commercial wireless providers, a senior administration official said on Thursday.

Allocating the so-called D Block of spectrum to public safety groups would provide an extra 10 megahertz of airwaves to build out a nationwide mobile broadband network for emergency services.

This highly sought after segment of the 700 megahertz band of airwaves has become the object of a tug-of-war among wireless companies, public safety groups, lawmakers and regulators at the Federal Communications Commission. The FCC has pledged to improve mobile communication capabilities for first responders during large-scale emergencies.

The FCC is currently under instruction from Congress to auction off the airwaves to bring in an estimated $3.1 billion to help lower the deficit.



Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE70Q9BB20110127

[karynnj]

1. To get an idea of why this is important, the MA delegation pushed the FCC to give a public service

waiver for Boston last year. This shows what doing this does for the community

BOSTON – Senator John Kerry today issued the following statement on the FCC’s approval of a public safety waiver for Boston.

"Our Massachusetts delegation worked long and hard to get to this moment. Today the FCC has granted Boston’s request for access to vacant public safety broadband spectrum. In terms of what that means for the people of Boston, it is a victory for their safety and security and a critical step toward insuring that neither man made nor natural disasters will keep our public safety officials from being able to communicate with each other. In a crisis, that's the difference between life and death. Boston will not have to face the communication challenge first responders scrambled to overcome on 9/11. Our police, firefighters, and emergency medical workers will benefit enormously from the increased coordination, greater communications stability in times of disaster, and all of the new and expanded capabilities for preventing crime and saving lives that this broadband network offers. I am pleased that Boston has been awarded the opportunity to pioneer this new and improved network that will enable our first responders to better serve the public, and I look forward to working with the FCC to expand this capacity across Massachusetts and throughout the nation. It is beyond long overdue."

http://kerry.senate.gov/press/release/?id=e1d37822-e4e2-4185-8b33-485985b68aa8

This is something that Kerry and Snowe worked on in the Commerce committee's telecommunications subcommittee.

[annabanana]

2. Sounds like a very good thing. . . . . n/t

[8 track mind]

3. Good

the wireless companies have enough. The pretty much own the 800 mhz, 900 mhz, 1 ghz, and 2ghz bands. They would love to get their hands on the Amateur radio frequencies if they could get away with it. It's good to see the FCC do something right for a change.

The 700mhz band has been in the works for some time. The plan is pretty much to get all public service on the same band so all agencies can talk if something truly bad happens. This is a result of the communication problems experienced during 9-11. Most repeaters now have VoiP capability so they can be operated from anywhere as long as it has a network connection.

This is something that has needed to happen for sometime. Right now, public service is all over the map and some police and fire departments are still operating on equipment made in the 60's and 70's. Some still operate on frequencies below the FM broadcast band.