Public-safety groups voice support for Martin’s 700 MHz plan

The public-safety community appears to be gathering behind the 700 MHz plan floated by Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin, a stark contrast to the volatile reaction to his attempt to impose an open-access-like condition to a third of the 60 megahertz to be auctioned six months from now.
“It sounds like it addresses most of our concerns,” said Robert Gurss, director of government affairs for the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials-International. “It sounds positive.”
Public-safety officials have been meeting with FCC officials in the days since Martin publicized key elements of a 700 MHz draft order that now has been circulated to the other four FCC commissioners. Until today, public-safety officials were silent on the Martin plan.
Martin’s 700 MHz plan designates for bidding a national 10-megahertz block in which the winning bidder would be required to work with public safety on adjacent first-responder frequencies to improve first-responder communications. The draft order also would permit limited open access on two 11 megahertz blocks of 700 MHz spectrum, but licenses apparently would neither be national nor subject to a wholesale mandate. The approach veers from Frontline Wireless L.L.C.’s proposal, which advocates open access throughout a national 700 MHz license that leverages commercial and public-safety frequencies. The mobile-phone industry and others oppose Martin’s proposal, while open-access proponents say the plan does not go far enough.
The Bush administration has failed to bring communications interoperability and broadband connectivity to first responders in the years since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
“For the most part, everything public safety advocated is in the order,” said Harlin McEwen, chairman of the communications and technology committee for the International Association of Chiefs of Police.
McEwen also serves as president of the new Public Safety Spectrum Trust Corp., an entity backed by nine national public-safety organizations and formed in anticipation of an FCC ruling creating for auction a new national commercial-public safety broadband license. APCO’s Gurss is the group’s vice president.
The PSST this week issued a request for proposals for applicants interested in becoming an agent-advisor to the group. Bids are due by July 30, and the group said bids will be evaluated and negotiated in subsequent weeks.
“The 700 MHz spectrum represents a once-in-a lifetime opportunity for the public-safety community to gain the state-of-the-art communications tools we need to do our jobs effectively and safely. Therefore we are taking necessary steps to ensure that we are prepared to move the process along as efficiently as possible,” said McEwen. “We are committed to making the RFP process transparent and competitive to maximize our options of selecting a suitable partner(s) in this critical endeavor.”
Cyren Call Communications Corp., a startup headed by industry veteran Morgan O’Brien and the primary catalyst for public-safety communications reform, is expected to be a leading candidate for the job.