THE FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION SET A JUNE 20 DEADLINE for public comment on D-Block revisions, but already the agency has begun receiving suggestions from industry, public safety and academics. Most filings focus on how D-Block rules can be restructured to attract bidders capable of winning and operating for the long run a national wireless broadband network that could offer the kind of interoperable and broadband communications functionalities first responders continue to lack more than six years after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Leading public-safety groups and some in Congress have urged the FCC to stick with the public-private partnership, the defining hybrid approach used
when the D Block was left stranded in the 700 MHz auction as no bidder paid the minimum $1.3 billion for the license. The reserve price is among the rules likely to be altered in the new rulemaking. Regulatory clarity – especially regarding the relationship between the public-safety broadband licensee and the commercial D-Block winner (and their respective responsibilities) – also is apt to have a high priority in the FCC re-write.
Public safety weighs in
In addition to voicing support for the public-private model, representatives from the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials International and the National Emergency Number Association recently met FCC officials and underscored “the need for appropriate incentives to attract commercial bidders and the need to ensure that public safety’s needs remain a paramount consideration as new rules are considered.”
Indeed, the fundamental challenge facing telecom regulators this go-round is how to advance first responders’ interests without unduly undercutting the economic incentives and profit motive necessary to give the public-private experiment a chance of succeeding. Some would argue the FCC deferred too much to public safety in the 700 MHz guidelines now under review, pointing to the absence of a D-Block winner as evidence.
A delay
Jon Peha challenges that notion. Peha, professor of electrical engineering and public policy and associate director of the Center for Wireless & Broadband Networking at Carnegie Mellon University, said failure would be the FCC not allocating spectrum in a manner that meets public-safety and homeland security needs. He said the lack of a D-Block winner in the 700 MHz auction merely represents a delay.
At the same time, Peha – highly regarded in policy circles – said the public-private partnership should be better detailed in order to avoid a repeat of the D Block’s last performance.
“The FCC must go much further than it has so far to establish the technical and non-technical requirements that will be imposed on the winner of the next auction, or there will be no bidders,” Peha stated.
“The requirements established must be sufficient to meet public-safety needs over the coming years. Moreover, there must be some institutional arrangement that will ensure that the needs of public safety are met in the future, even as needs and technology changes. This arrangement does not yet exist.
“One obvious step in defining such an arrangement is establishing an organization to represent public safety that is transparent to all, accountable (at least in part) to public-safety organizations, and lacks even the appearance of a conflict of interest. Beyond that, either this organization or the FCC or both need sufficient leverage to protect the evolving needs of public safety. At the same time, the long-term arrangement must provide adequate protection for the licensee. The arrangement is only sustainable if the licensee can expect profits.”
Currently, the Public Safety Spectrum Trust Corp. – a non-profit group comprised of a broad cross section of representatives – serves as the FCC’s public-safety broadband licensee that would partner with a commercial entity under existing D-Block rules. Cyren Call Communications Corp., a venture capital-backed entity led by wireless veteran Morgan O’Brien, is the official advisor to the PSST. In response to allegations of impropriety, the FCC investigated and cleared Cyren Call of any wrongdoing. Congress, however, continues to probe the relationship between the PSST and Cyren Call. Congress is also looking at the implosion shortly before the auction’s start of a company – Frontline Wireless L.L.C. – that seemed to have the right stuff to put the D Block to work for public safety while providing commercial broadband service to citizens.
Plenty of ideas
Stagg Newman, former chief technologist at Frontline and the FCC, suggested to the commission several business models for implementing an interoperable public-safety network in the 700 MHz band – each with its own unique challenges in delivering data, voice and video services.
“The commission’s plan needs to articulate how each of these capabilities will be met by whom and with what resources and funding resources,” Newman stated.
The New York City Police Department recommended the FCC re-auction D-Block spectrum in regional blocks rather than as a nationwide license, owing to the fact that city agencies will use the NYC wireless network rather the than the one contemplated by the FCC. The NYPD said first responders should have free access to D-Block spectrum.
Duke University economists have put forward an “exclusive buyer mechanism” for the D-Block re-auction, an approach they claim will “maximize a mixture of efficiency and seller surplus as appropriate given the FCC’s objectives.”
Setting up for more debate
But while FCC Chairman Kevin Martin and other commissioners appear committed to making the public-private partnership work, the possibility remains of a re-auctioned D Block stripped of public-safety conditions. That would work well with the mobile-phone industry, which generally opposes auctions with strings attached. But even that scenario – which is unlikely – would trigger debate about other issues. Earlier this month, U.S. Cellular Corp. encouraged the FCC to create opportunities for smaller and regional operators to participate in the D-Block re-auction.
Art Earl, director of strategic development at the tech firm Hypres in Elmsford, N.Y., offered an outside-the-box idea in an FCC proceeding in which everything is on the table for discussion.
“My idea is for the government to deregulate the 700 MHz band and just give it away for a few years for small businesses to develop new revolutionary technologies and give the U.S. a technology booster shot without spending any money,” Earl said.
“If you have to compromise on deregulation, then perhaps only devices blessed by the PSST and FCC could be used at this frequency range. This will help stimulate innovation in a significant and meaningful way and perhaps pave the way for the U.S. to re-emerge as a significant global power in broadband wireless. Look at how much the prior deregulation of 5 GHz and 2 GHz bands have stimulated the economy.”
More familiar stakeholders are expected to weigh in a couple weeks from now. Reply comments are due July 7.
