President Proposes Delay in D Block Auction

1. The article below is provided courtesy of Paul Kirby and TR Daily

OBAMA ADMINISTRATION SAYS FCC SHOULD HOLD OFF ON D-BLOCK AUCTION

The Obama administration said today that the FCC should hold off reauctioning the 700 megahertz band D block to provide more time to analyze the FCC's public safety broadband network proposal and related issues, including technical and legal matters concerning priority roaming by public safety entities onto commercial networks. The administration said it is establishing an interagency task force to study the issues.

Meanwhile, the chairwoman and ranking member of a House Homeland Security subcommittee expressed skepticism with the FCC's plan at a hearing today. Witnesses for and against reauctioning the D block reiterated points they have made elsewhere.

The developments are the latest setback for the FCC's national broadband plan (NBP) recommendation to reauction the D block and encourage public safety agencies to leverage commercial deployment of fourth-generation LTE (long term evolution) technology. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski has held off circulating an item on D-block reauction rules for political reasons, according to some sources.

Bills are pending in the House and Senate that would direct the FCC to reallocate the D block to public safety rather than reauction it, and Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee Chairman John D. (Jay) Rockefeller IV (D., W.Va.) has announced his intention to introduce legislation as well (TRDaily, July 21).

The Obama administration has endorsed the NBP's call to identify an additional 500 MHz of spectrum for commercial broadband uses over the next decade, and it says that "the first claim" on revenues from the auction of any reallocated spectrum should go to public safety for a broadband network (TRDaily, June 28). However, the administration has not said what spectrum - including the D block - should be auctioned.

"At this point, we are saying that we believe that a decision on an auction needs to await some of these technical answers," Gregory Schaffer, assistant secretary-cybersecurity and communications at the Department of Homeland Security, said in response to questions from Rep. Laura Richardson (D., Calif.), chairwoman of the House emergency communications, preparedness, and response subcommittee.

Mr. Schaffer said in his prepared testimony that the Obama administration "is establishing a joint task force on public safety interoperability to better understand and identify public safety requirements, test assumptions and approaches associated with meeting those requirements, recommend technical, policy, process, and governance solutions, and coordinate with the FCC. This task force will allow personnel from several of the departments and agencies with major interoperability competencies to work in partnership with the public safety community." He said DHS is working with the Department of Justice, with support from the Commission.

"The Administration also plans to convene a forum this fall to discuss funding, spectrum requirements, technology issues, and governance models necessary to support the development of a next generation network for public safety communications," Mr. Schaffer noted.

Mr. Schaffer said that the task force would, in particular, analyze technical and legal issues surrounding the FCC's proposal that public safety agencies be allowed priority roaming onto commercial networks when the 10 MHz of spectrum they currently have isn't enough. "Both the technical and legal frameworks for this type of plan must be evaluated, and capacity and capability outcomes understood, before any decision can be made regarding the spectrum requirements for public safety," he said. He stressed the need to test the LTE technical standard on a government demonstration network in Boulder, Colo.

Mr. Schaffer also stressed that sufficient funding will be needed in order for the FCC's plan to become reality. And he said work needs to be done before commercial LTE networks will be able to handle mission-critical voice communications.

Ms. Richardson and Rep. Michael D. Rogers (R., Ala.), the subcommittee's ranking member, questioned whether the new task force announced by Mr. Schaffer would duplicate functions already performed by the Emergency Communications Preparedness Center (ECPC), which was launched last year and includes 14 federal agencies.

Mr. Schaffer replied that the ECPC has a "very broad mandate" that focuses on the emergency communications needs of federal agencies, whereas the new task force would focus on the needs of state and local agencies - and especially the FCC's proposals. "The FCC has spent a year preparing their plan and focusing on it," he said. "The administration is trying to put some focus on it as well."

He also said that the Emergency Response Interoperability Center (ERIC) at the FCC and DHS's Office of Emergency Communications (OEC) could complement each other, but Rep. Rogers suggested the missions of the two entities were "in conflict."

Mr. Schaffer said the task force would also work to ensure that public safety's voice is heard - something Rep. Richardson - and the full committee's chairman, Rep. Bennie G. Thompson (D., Miss.) - suggested wasn't done when the FCC prepared the NBP. Most major public safety groups want the D block reallocated and have been critical of the FCC's reauction proposal.

"Clearly, there has been a disconnect with public safety in some respects and it must be resolved," Rep. Richardson said. "I believe DHS with its close interactions with the public safety community could definitely help bridge the gap."

"This Committee needs to hear the extent to which DHS, during the developmental stages, conducted outreach to the public safety community and, in turn, represented the community's interests in the process," Rep. Thompson said in a written statement. "The fact that some in the public safety community are advocating for reallocation of the D Block gives the impression that their interests were not adequately represented in the process." The lawmaker also said that "it may be very difficult to find the funding" to construct a nationwide public safety broadband network but also that "[r]esources should not be a barrier to participation in a nationwide system."

Rep. Rogers noted that he was an original cosponsor of HR 5081, which Rep. Peter T. King (R., N.Y), ranking member of the full committee, introduced in April to force the FCC to reallocate the D block.

Ms. Richardson asked Jamie Barnett, chief of the FCC's Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau, what input the agency had sought from public safety as it prepared the public safety portion of the NBP. Mr. Barnett said FCC officials had "hundreds" of meetings, calls, workshops, and forums with public safety representatives, adding, "I have never refused a meeting with anyone who requested it, and often I would call to request it." He said he "would have loved to have agreed" with the public safety community on the D block but that the evidence didn't support it.

Ms. Richardson asked whether Mr. Barnett would be willing to discuss a possible compromise with public safety. "I'm always open to working with and talking to public safety," he replied. In response to another question from Ms. Richardson, who questioned how much input DHS had into the NBP, Mr. Barnett said the FCC kept DHS and OEC officials informed "from the very beginning" as it formulated the public safety proposals for the NBP, adding the agencies have "a pretty good level of interaction."

Mr. Schaffer also told Ms. Richardson in response to a question that DHS was willing to work with the FCC and DHS to find a solution to the current impasse.

Ms. Richardson repeatedly criticized the FCC's priority roaming proposal, echoing the complaints of many public safety officials that it wouldn't guarantee first responders would be able to access clogged networks. "In my opinion, priority access means nothing in terms of emergencies," she said. "Priority access is not adequate."

Witness Charles Dowd, deputy chief of the New York Police Department, agreed, saying that public safety agencies have always found they can't depend on often-congested commercial networks during emergencies. "We must be able to manage and control the network so our data has absolute priority," he said. Mr. Dowd also said he found Mr. Schaffer's discussion of the federal interagency task force "a little bit troubling" because he didn't mention any participation by local public safety entities.

Jeff Johnson, president and chairman of the International Association of Fire Chiefs, was asked how much the FCC reached out to public safety in formulating its plan. "I think it's fair to say that they have been talking to us," he replied, but added that "we do not feel that they feel our urgency" on the need to reallocate the D block. Messrs. Dowd and Johnson also complained that an FCC white paper on expected public safety broadband capacity needs was issued after the release of the NBP rather than before it.

Eric Graham, vice president-strategic and government relations for Cellular South, Inc., who testified on behalf of the Rural Cellular Association, which favors a D-block reauction, suggested that LTE technology would facilitate the type of priority access public safety agencies need. The technology "will allow carriers to manage users on an individual basis," he said, permitting them to drop non-public safety callers if necessary. However, the NBP does not suggest such a preemptive regime.

Richard Mirgon, president of the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials-International, told TRDaily after the hearing that he hadn't heard of the task force Mr. Schaffer mentioned. He said it seems clear that DHS believes more analysis of the NBP is needed. "However, I'm not sure there's not some underlying politics on the issue," he added.

Mr. Mirgon also agreed with suggestions by lawmakers that the task force would duplicate other efforts. "I mean, how many groups can we put together to talk about this issue?" he asked. - Paul Kirby, paul.kirby@wolterskluwer.com

2. There was a Hearing conducted this morning by the Subcommittee on Emergency Communications, Preparedness, and Response of the House Homeland Security Committee. Chief Charles Dowd (NYPD), Chief Johnson (IAFC President), and Robert LeGrande testified as did Jamie Barnett of the FCC and Greg Shaffer of DHS. You can view the archived video of the Hearing or download the written testimony which is accessible at http://homeland.house.gov/Hearings/index.asp?ID=266