Climate change

For public safety, the political atmospherics have changed from what they were just a year ago when federal regulators understandably gave great weight to first responders’ suggestions on how to write rules for a national commercial/public-safety license that would go to the bidder willing pay at least $1.3 billion for it in the 700 MHz auction.
What happened to the D Block in the auction is now old news, yet remains unfinished and controversial business of the highest order. Congress and the Federal Communications Commission are investigating allegations surrounding the failure to attract a taker for the D Block; the role of Cyren Call Communications Corp. (adviser to the Public Safety Spectrum Trust Corp.); and the sudden death in advance of the auction of Frontline Wireless L.L.C., which was poised to make a big play for the license.
It is still unclear why Frontline folded. Ex-Frontline executives are not publicly commenting on what went down, even though the FCC’s anti-collusion gag rule is no longer in effect. It might have been instructive and illuminating for the House telecom committee to have learned firsthand from ex-Frontline principals what transpired in the run-up to the 700 MHz auction. Instead, lawmakers heard from everybody but them.
The public-safety community – clamoring still for widespread interoperability, broadband connectivity and other communications capabilities – will continue to be a powerful voice at the FCC and on Capitol Hill in the D Block re-do.
But it will be different this time around. It inevitably has to, for without the right mix of economic incentives and rule modifications, the D Block again could be stranded, or worse, sunk insofar as the public-private experiment goes. That means the FCC will pay more heed to the business case for the D Block in considering its options. It will be a tricky balancing act, with the possibility of public-safety backlash if the pendulum swings too far the other direction. Likely complicating matters further will be attempts to advance other wireless policy objectives in the rulemaking to craft new-and-improved rules for a business-friendly D Block re-auction. A veritable free-for-all could ensue. It wouldn’t be the first time a well-meaning government effort goes from bad to worse.
A more sobering question is this: Does a framework exist that could make an unprecedented, capitalintensive D-Block public-private partnership work? That so many policymakers and first responders hope so does not mean it will be so.