The Federal Communications Commission has slashed the price for the
D-block, a piece of 700 MHz spectrum set aside for emergency
responders.
D-Block is a chunk of the 700 MHz spectrum that analog television will no longer be using by next February.
In September, the minimum bid was cut from $1.3 billion to $750 million.
If no single entity bids on the D-Block, new rules propose dividing the piece of spectrum into 58 different regions.
The
FCC’s plans are to have a private company build an emergency network
that will ensure that police, firefighters and other first responders
can communicate. The lack of interoperable communication devices among
agencies became apparent during 9/11 and in the aftermath of Hurricane
Katrina in 2005. The company would then sell its system to emergency
service providers.
The public safety community had clamored for
spectrum to call its own for years, but when the time came for the
private sector to bid for the D-block, there was only one bid, which
the FCC deemed as too low.
There is a range of options for such
a network. Possibilities include a multi-band, multi-mode portable
radio that is being tested by the office of interoperability and
compatibility, which is part of the Department of Homeland Security.
There is also the P25 program, which is focused on developing standards
that allow radios to interoperate regardless of the manufacturer. The
office is also looking at Voice Over Internet Protocol, which is an
Internet telephone for a PC, MAC or laptop. FCC officials said they
would like to build a national system.
But some are wary of
such an endeavor. Charles Dowd, deputy chief of the New York City
Police Department, speaking at a September House Homeland Security
Committee hearing in Washington, said that many major cities in the
United States do not support the auctioning off of the block to a
commercial wireless service. There is no assurance that a wireless
network operator can build a nationwide network that will meet public
safety coverage and survivability standards, he said.
Some
rural areas do not see the need for a national network. “Big cities
have big fires and big emergencies all the time, where you’ve got to
bring in five different fire departments and maybe a couple of
different police stations,” said Carl Kutsche, manager of the wireless
communications department at the Idaho National Laboratory. “But a
local municipality, where you’re talking about one or two firehouses
and three or four sheriffs cars, these guys have made it work for 200
years with whatever they have on hand.”
There is also a strong local control element and the local sheriff does not want to loose his grip on the situation, he said.
“We
have to set the system up not to totally take control,” he said. “What
we have to do is set the system up to provide the communications and
controls that might have been knocked out by a large disaster.”