The FCC’s Wireless Spectrum Call and Public Safety
by Elizabeth Blair York | August 1st, 2007The leader in tech news today continues to be the FCC decision around the sale of the valuable 700 mhz bandwidth.
The big buzz? The new public safety network.
As part of the order adopted there will be a single license awarded for the national broadband network for public safety.
Bottom line, this will partner the Public Safety Broadband Licensee with a licensee for one of the commercial radio spectrum blocks. The commercial radio company will do the heavy lifting of building the network which will then b available on a priority basis to the public safety company.
This idea has been floated for years by public safety organizations but the costs associated with the build-out were unsurmountable. This auction made it feasible, mandating “significant cost efficiencies while maximizing public safety’s access to interoperable broadband spectrum,” according to the FCC. In plain talk? It’s a stipulation that most carriers will gladly agree to in order to have the network for their commercial purposes.
The Telecommunications Industry Association praised the FCC action, saying that its member companies can now begin developing business strategies around the availability of the spectrum. Meaning - how do we explain to our customers that every once in a while, their availability will be suspended so that public safety officials can use the bandwidth to coordinate their efforts?
In this post-9/11 world, its hard to believe that will be a hard sell.
Tags:broadband spectrum, commercial radio, developing business strategies, fcc action, fcc decision, mhz bandwidth, national broadband network, plain talk, priority basis, public safety network, public safety officials, public safety organizations, radio company, radio spectrum, safety company, spectrum blocks telecommunications industry association Sphere: Related ContentRelated Posts:
