Courtesy TR Daily

Courtesy of Paul Kirby – TR Daily

FCC OFFICIAL PLEDGES DIALOGUE WITH PUBLIC SAFETY ON NETWORK

HOUSTON - The chief of the FCC’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau said today that despite disagreement over whether the 700 megahertz band D block should be reallocated to public safety, the agency wants to continue a dialogue with the public safety community.

During a session this afternoon at the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials-International’s 76th Annual Conference & Expo here, Jamie Barnett said the Commission and public safety agencies have a “common goal” of deploying a nationwide, interoperable public safety broadband network. “We are committed to a public debate, a public dialogue on the network,” he stressed. “One way or the other, we are going to work with public safety.”

Although the debate between the sides has at times resulted in strong language, Mr. Barnett said, “From the beginning, there’s been a polite discussion.”

“In essence, things have shifted to Congress,” Mr. Barnett said, noting public safety lobbying on Capitol Hill about whether the D block should be reallocated. “I think we need to be prepared one way or the other.” He emphasized that the Commission believes that the nationwide network would be much more expensive if the D block is reallocated.

Mr. Barnett noted that a decision on moving ahead to establish rules for a D-block reauction and explore priority access and roaming issues is in FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski’s office. In response to another question, he said the FCC’s national broadband plan (NBP) action plan was “ambitious” and said the D-block items are not the only ones the agency has had “a hard time getting out.” The action plan said the FCC would issue a D-block order and NPRM late in the second quarter or early in the third quarter; it set the same time frame for an NPRM on public safety roaming and priority access.

Mr. Barnett also said that he doesn’t think comments at a House hearing last week by a Department of Homeland Security official regarding the FCC’s D-block plans meant DHS wants the agency to put all action on hold. At the hearing, Gregory Schaffer, assistant secretary-cybersecurity and communications, said the FCC should hold off reauctioning the 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.

Mr. Barnett told reporters after today’s session that those issues would be considered during the FCC’s rulemaking leading up to an auction.

He also said that there’s agreement in Congress and in the Obama administration that funding is critical to deploy a network. “I actually find it all very encouraging,” he said.

Asked about some suggestions that the FCC should try to broker a consensus over the D block, Mr. Barnett said he’s open to discussing the matter with anyone, but he reiterated that the ultimate decision over the spectrum belongs to Congress.

Citing other progress, he also noted that the FCC has formed the Emergency Response Interoperability Center (ERIC), granted 21 waivers to deploy networks early, and established an ERIC technical advisory committee. He also said a public safety advisory committee would be established soon. And he said the FCC plans to advertise for an executive director for the ERIC. He said the candidate should have technical expertise “but also a strong public safety pedigree.”

Mr. Barnett was also asked about concern in the public safety community that the FCC could allow licensees to use their narrowband spectrum for broadband services, endangering interoperability and resulting in interference for narrowband operations.

“We’re not trying to interrupt anybody’s plan,” Mr. Barnett said. “We’re trying to start a discussion.” He said that while mission-critical voice service will likely need dedicated spectrum for a “few years,” at some point there will be a transition where voice communications will be carried over broadband connections. As a result, he said, FCC officials figured they would ask questions on whether it would be possible to allow narrowband channels to be used for broadband applications without causing interference or any other problems. “The answer may be, no we don’t want to do that,” he said.

Mr. Barnett also said the FCC didn’t expect narrowband flexibility to be a “substitute” for reallocation of the D block - as some have suggested. He didn’t give any time frame for a narrowband public notice that the bureau had said in June would be forthcoming shortly.

On other public safety issues, FCC officials also said they were pleased by agreement on moving forward on enhanced “911" (E911) location accuracy, including T-Mobile USA, Inc.’s general support for standards proposed by AT&T, Inc., APCO, and the National Emergency Number Association. “We have a good plan going forward,”said Jeff Cohen, senior legal counsel in the Public Safety Bureau. Mr. Barnett said the FCC was expected to act in the proceeding “soon,” although he wasn’t more specific.

In another area, Messrs. Barnett and Cohen said FCC officials were concerned that public safety agencies weren’t moving more promptly to get prepared to meet the Jan. 1, 2013, deadline for narrowbanding VHF and UHF systems operating on frequencies below 512 MHz. “From what we can see, we’re a little concerned [that] not too much has occurred yet,” Mr. Cohen said. He said FCC officials want to reach out to the public safety community to encourage action, saying that they are concerned that granting any waivers would create a lack of interoperability and interference concerns with neighboring licensees that have transitioned.

Regarding the 800 MHz band transition, Mr. Cohen said negotiations are continuing between the U.S. and Mexico on a band plan along the border, although he said Sprint Nextel Corp. and NII Holdings, Inc., which operates in Mexico, have an “agreement in principle.”

Mr. Cohen also said the FCC doesn’t have any plans to extend the March 31, 2011, deadline for Sprint Nextel to vacate nonborder interleaved spectrum, although he said he didn’t want to prejudge any decision and noted no such request is before it. - Paul Kirby, paul.kirby@wolterskluwer.com