|
House Subcommittee Hearing Addresses D Block Reallocation (7/27/10)
Members of the House subcommittee on emergency communications, preparedness and response generally seemed favorable to witnesses advocating reallocation of the D block spectrum to public safety at a Tuesday hearing on the FCC’s national broadband plan.
Reps. Laura Richardson, chair of the subcommittee, and Mike Rogers, ranking member, heard testimony from Charles Dowd, deputy chief of the New York City Police Department; Jeff Johnson, president of the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC); and Robert LeGrande, an industry consultant and former chief technology officer (CTO) of the District of Columbia, noting problems with public safety relying on commercial networks during disasters. Dowd said the D block spectrum “is not a gift; it’s a desperately needed allocation.”
Greg Schaffer, assistant secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office of Cyber Security and Communications, said technical issues need to be worked out before the FCC moves forward with auction plans. He said the Obama administration is establishing a joint task force on public-safety interoperability to identify requirements, test assumptions and approaches, and coordinate with the FCC. The task force will allow federal personnel with major interoperability competencies to work with the public-safety community.
Richardson asked public-safety witnesses to submit to the subcommittee in writing what DHS could do to further interoperability. Jamie Barnett, chief of the FCC’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau (PSHSB), testified in favor of auctioning the D block. Eric Graham, vice president for strategic government relations for Cellular South, also voiced support for a D block auction and said commercial networks using Long Term Evolution (LTE) could support many of the capabilities that public safety requires.
Rep. Pete King, a member of the subcommittee, earlier this year introduced H.R. 5081, Broadband for First Responders Act of 2010 legislation, which calls for reallocating the D block to public safety and has 57 cosponsors. The bill has been referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. Sens. Joseph Lieberman and John McCain introduced a companion bill in the Senate last week.
Your comments are welcome, click here.
Copyright © 2000 - 2010, Pandata Corp., All Rights Reserved.
Privacy Policy and Legal Statement.
|
