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FCC to Recommend $16B in Grant Funding for 700 MHz Broadband Network (2/25/10)
Although the FCC will recommend moving forward with a D block auction, it will also recommend that Congress consider significant public funding — $12 billion to $16 billion over 10 years — for a federal grant program to help support network construction and operation and maintenance of a 700 MHz pubic-safety broadband network. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski released the public-safety national broadband plan details at a briefing Thursday.
The FCC’s recommendations include creation of an approximately $6 billion federal grant program to help support network construction and additional funding for operation of the broadband network. About $6 billion of the grant program would support capital costs of the public-safety network over 10 years. Another $6 billion to $10 billion program would cover operation of the network over 10 years and to upgrade the network as technology advances.
“The private sector simply is not going to build a nationwide, state-of-the-art, interoperable broadband network for public safety on its own dime,” Genachowski said. “Local municipalities and states can certainly contribute some amount to sustaining any network that is built. But the bottom line is that if we want to deliver on what our first responders need to protect our communities and loved ones, public money will need to be put toward tackling this national priority.”
The public-safety community has been lobbying Congress to reallocate the 10 megahertz of D block spectrum to public safety instead of auctioning it. Genachowski said, “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. Rather than solely focusing on just the D block, through the plan, public safety isn’t limited to 10 or even 20 megahertz of spectrum, but could have access to as much as 80 megahertz under these arrangements.”
Public-safety groups late Thursday released a statement criticizing the plan to re-auction the D block spectrum. “Unfortunately, the House and Senate Commerce Committees and other members of Congress have failed to recognize the communications needs of our first responders and show the necessary leadership to direct the FCC to reallocate the spectrum for public safety,” said Richard Mirgon, president of the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) International. “Public safety needs to own and control this spectrum so that we can use more advanced technology to protect our citizens.”
Genachowski acknowledged the lack of available spectrum for broadband in general. Earlier in the week he outlined a plan to free 500 megahertz of spectrum for all types of broadband services. He said the FCC will propose a “mobile future auction,” an auction permitting existing spectrum licensees, such as TV broadcasters in spectrum-congested markets, to voluntarily relinquish spectrum in exchange for a share of auction proceeds, and allow spectrum sharing and other spectrum efficiency measures.
Specific to public-safety spectrum, Genachowski said Thursday that public-safety users and first responders, similar to commercial users, may need additional broadband capacity over time particularly in major markets. “The plan anticipates this,” he said. “While that does not include a recommendation of reallocating the D block at this time, I am committed to identifying additional spectrum resources for public-safety broadband as the need for broadband grows over time.”
“We have devoted much thought in the plan to how public safety can obtain access not just to the D block, but to the entire 700 MHz band,” said FCC Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau (PSHSB) Chief Jamie Barnett during the briefing. “This is why we have proposed working recommendations to enable public-safety broadband users to roam on commercial networks and obtain priority access on terms that are reasonable and affordable.”
The FCC chairman touched on the creation of an Emergency Response Interoperability Center (ERIC), first announced late last year. Genachowski also said he wants to ensure that the public-safety community has access to a competitive environment for network deployment. “To that end, our approach does not limit the public-safety community to one potential partner,” he said. “Instead, public safety can select any commercial operator it determines it is appropriate or, if it prefers, a systems integrator to partner with.”
“The recommendations in the broadband plan are really about empowering the public-safety community to control its broadband destiny rather than relying solely on commercial deployments, and ensuring that its networks meet public-safety requirements for hardening, coverage and other characteristics and features,” Barnett said. “This is why we have placed such a strong emphasis recommended funding in the plan. Commercial investment alone will be insufficient to ensure resiliency, reliability and geographic coverage in rural areas and other public-safety standards.”
Barnett announced details for next-generation 9-1-1 (NG 9-1-1). The plan includes a working recommendation that Congress appropriate funding for the National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration to analyze the cost of deploying an NG 9-1-1 nationwide system. “Streamlining this process will make the transition to a nationwide Next Generation 9-1-1 system more likely,” Barnett said.
Barnett also addressed cyber security and critical communications infrastructure protection and improving the nation’s emergency alerting system (EAS).
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