June 15, 2010 A Face-Off Over Sale of Spectrum by F.C.C. By EDWARD WYATT NY Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/16/technology/16fcc.html?ref=business&pagewanted=print WASHINGTON — Ever since the Sept. 11 attacks exposed the communications difficulty that police, fire and other personnel had in a crisis, government and public safety officials have wrestled with how to rebuild the nation’s emergency networks. Nine years later, that effort has reached a showdown between the Federal Communications Commission, which is seeking to auction off a block of wireless broadband spectrum to the private sector, and public safety officials, who say that the additional space on the public airwaves should be used instead for a dedicated emergency broadband network. With commercial wireless companies preparing to build the next generation of wireless communication networks, the resolution of the debate will determine whether public safety officials will be able to use the latest technology in emergencies. The two sides will face off on Thursday at a hearing before the House Subcommittee on Communications, Technology and the Internet, which is considering legislation to pay for a public safety network. Over the last year, the disagreements over how to accomplish the goal have intensified. Attorney General Eric H. Holder said last October that he believed the new wireless spectrum should be turned over to public safety officials for a dedicated network. The F.C.C. and its chairman, Julius Genachowski, however, have said that auctioning the spectrum is a priority. On Tuesday, the agency released a technical white paper saying that police and fire departments around the country could construct a better communications network at lower cost by using airwaves already dedicated to public safety use, supplemented by the right to essentially take over commercial networks in an emergency. But public safety advocates say that a dedicated emergency network is essential. “It seems to me to be a sad day when the government puts more emphasis on ensuring broadband for iPads than it does on public safety,” said R. David Paulison, the former administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency and now a consultant on public safety communications. Among his current clients is Motorola, which controls the vast majority of the market for public safety communications equipment. All of the parties stress that time to act is growing short. “If we can catch this wave as wireless carriers are putting out their 4G equipment, we could really vastly decrease the cost of the network,” Jamie Barnett, the chief of the F.C.C.’s public safety and homeland security bureau, said in an interview, referring to fourth-generation wireless technology. Mr. Barnett estimated that building the public safety network concurrently with the commercial networks would cost $6.5 billion over 10 years. But building the public safety network by itself would cost more than $15 billion, he said. Public safety advocates say that catastrophes like Sept. 11 and Hurricane Katrina demonstrated how commercial wireless systems became clogged and broke down, rendering them useless to police and fire departments. Decisions need to be made before another major disaster, they say. The ability of one department’s equipment to talk to another’s is a big part of the issue, F.C.C. officials say. They say it doesn’t make sense that a consumer using an iPhone on an AT&T network can talk to a Verizon customer using a BlackBerry, but that police and fire departments in the same city cannot talk to each other on their expensive equipment. The F.C.C. contends that changes in technology over the last decade would allow private wireless networks to easily make room for public safety officials in an emergency. The alternative — combining the 10 megahertz of broadband spectrum already dedicated to public safety with a similar slice of the new spectrum in the so-called D Block — would not be adequate to handle a national disaster, the F.C.C. says. A group of public safety associations has gained the support of local governments in its campaign. The Public Safety Alliance, which includes the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the International Association of Fire Chiefs and the National Emergency Management Association, began a national advertising campaign this month on the issue, and has gained the support of the National Governors Association and the United States Conference of Mayors. The Obama administration has not yet weighed in on the dispute. Hannah August, a spokeswoman for the Justice Department, said: “We want to ensure that law enforcement has reliable and secure capacity and systems to communicate at all times, particularly during emergency situations. The administration is reviewing the F.C.C. plan, and supports the goal of building a nationwide, interoperable public safety broadband network.” How public safety officials would pay for a dedicated network is also an open question. The federal government has raised billions of dollars from previous wireless auctions. If the new wireless spectrum is set aside for public emergency use without an auction, the government might have difficulty paying for it. -- ================================ George Antunes, Political Science Dept University of Houston; Houston, TX 77204 Voice: 713-743-3923 Fax: 713-743-3927 Mail: antunes at uh dot edu _______________________________________________ Medianews mailing list [email protected] http://lists.etskywarn.net/mailman/listinfo/medianews
