WASHINGTON—The Michigan Association of Chiefs of Police is urging Congress to lean on the Federal Communications Commission to put the 700 MHz Cyren Call Communications Corp. proposal out for comment.
“It’s alarming that the average American household has access to more advanced technology than many of our brethren entrusted to protect our neighborhoods and nation,” said Ervin Portie, chief of police for Jackson, Mich. “It is only appropriate for the FCC to open a national debate before we lose the opportunity forever.”
The MACP in June adopted a resolution urging Congress and the FCC to consider the Cyren proposal. Michigan is a key lobbying state as it is home to the House telecommunications subcommittee chairman as well as a ranking member of the House Commerce Committee.
Cyren Call filed a petition with the FCC in April to reserve 30 megahertz in the upper 700 MHz band for a next-generation public-safety network that industry would build and share with first responders.
Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.), chairman of the House telecommunications subcommittee, has previously criticized the Cyren proposal. It has also received a thumbs down from wireless trade association CTIA.
The spectrum Cyren Call wants is mandated by Congress to be auctioned by January 2008. Cyren envisions a public-private partnership with commercial operators that would underwrite network-infrastructure deployment in exchange for leveraging the 700 MHz band for wireless business opportunities. First responders and others would have preferential access to the 30-megahertz block during emergencies, but would otherwise occupy a very small portion of network capacity to satisfy day-to-day public-safety requirements.
The FCC has yet to act on the petition, although the commission is accepting comments on various proposals to reconfigure the 24 megahertz already reserved for public safety in the 700 MHz band.
When the 700 MHz band plan was developed in 1998, it divided the spectrum into narrowband and wideband channels. Narrowband can be used for voice and low-speed data, and wideband can be used for high-speed data and slow-scan video. It takes broadband speed to transmit full-motion video and other applications.
The FCC wants the narrowband channel allocation to remain the same, but plans to change the wideband channel allocation to allow broadband speeds.
While the FCC is asking for ideas on how to change the band, it is asking specific questions about three proposals already submitted by Lucent Technologies Inc., Motorola Inc. and the National Public Safety Telecommunications Council.
Cyren Call filed comments explicitly stating that it does not want to access the 24 megahertz reserved for public safety. “Adoption of the Cyren petition would not alter either the band plan or licensing structure of the 24 megahertz,” said Cyren Chairman Morgan O’Brien.
Changes to the 700 MHz public-safety band plan were precipitated by a study conducted by the FCC at the request of Congress to determine whether public safety has sufficient spectrum resources. More than 97 megahertz of spectrum is allocated to public safety already, said the commission, but noted that the existing 24 megahertz should be examined as a home for a nationwide interoperable broadband network.
