AnalysisDecision on on 700 MHz nears

Published 18 June 2007

The need for emergency communication interoperability has prompted calls for using part of the 700 MHz band for public safety; industry heavyweights object, and the FCC is divided

One of the more glaring problems during the 9/11 attacks and Hurricane Katrina, but also during other, smaller hurricanes and floods, was the problem with communication. This problem had two manifestations: Most communication collapsed as relay towers and dishes were destroyed, cables cut, and tunnels flooded. The second problem was that of interoperability: First response and emergecny units representing different jursidictions, agencies, and organizations could not communicate with each other better to coordinate their efforts.

We will discuss the first issue — that of communication continuity — later in the week when we discuss a new solution from TeleContinuity. Here we note the hearing in the Senate last week in which a plan to have private investors build a national 700 MHz wireless broadband network for police and fire departments was discussed — and faced quite a stiff opposition.

The focus of the hearings was a proposal by the Frontline Wireless proposal which would take away local control of emergency communications networks (this was the argument presented by Paul Cosgrave, commissioner of the New York City Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications, who highlighted New York state’s project to build a $500 million emergency network which will roll out fully in early 2008).

The Washington Post’s Grant Cross reports the main argument for building a national emergency network with private funds is that the U.S. government lacks the money to build the network, as James Barksdale, a partner in Frontline, explained. The national broadband network for emergency response agencies, as is the case with the $10 billion Integrated Wireless Network, will take billions of dollars to build, and a public-private partnership like the one Frontline has proposed is the only way it will happen, Barksdale said.

Frontline Wireless, backed by two former U.S. FCC chairmen and several technology industry big hitters, would set aside 22 MHz of wireless spectrum from an upcoming auction of the 700 MHz band for a dual-use commercial and emergency response network. Frontline added former FCC Chairman Mark Fowler to its board of directors this week. The Frontline plan would take 10 MHz from 60 MHz scheduled to be auctioned by early next year and pair it with 12 MHz of spectrum out of 24 MHz set aside for public safety.

Senator John Kerry (D-Massacusetts) said in the hearings that the FCC should write 700 MHz rules that foster innovative