Public Safety Implores Congress to Allocate Spectrum to Public Safety

FYI – Please see the release of a Press Statement from APCO here.
With respect to the D Block, it is important to remember that the FCC is mandated under the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 to auction the D Block; this was not an elective decision by the Commission – they are following the law. No action has been taken in Congress to reallocate the spectrum to public safety.

NPSTC’s statement is also below.

Chairman Julius Genachowski announced that the FCC will move forward with the D Block auction in his remarks at a briefing on the public safety portion of the National Broadband Plan. The Broadband team is recommending that “we move forward with a D Block auction,” he said, adding that, “to ensure sufficient reserve capacity for the network, as well as redundancy and resiliency, the Plan envisions that public safety will be able to access not just the D Block spectrum, but the entire 700 MHz band through roaming and priority access arrangements.”

The Plan also recommends that Congress consider significant public funding -- $16-18 Billion over 10 years -- for the creation of a federal grant program to help support network construction, operation, and evolution of the public safety broadband network.


PublicSafetyBriefing.pdf