YOU ARE AT:Archived ArticlesDHS official calls for cellular carriers to move off 800 MHz

DHS official calls for cellular carriers to move off 800 MHz

WASHINGTON-A high-ranking official in the Department of Homeland Security told RCR Wireless News Tuesday afternoon that the cellular-phone industry should give up some of its spectrum in the 800 MHz band to help first responders have less congested airways.

J. Richard Berman, DHS assistant inspector general for audits, appeared before the House Homeland Security emergency preparedness subcommittee as the panel examined a bill to streamline and provide greater oversight to first-responder grants. During the question-and-answer period, Berman said one of the major problems facing first responders across the nation was interoperable communications, and that long term, the way to solve this problem was for the Federal Communications Commission to allocate more spectrum for public-safety communications. When pressed about this after his appearance, he specifically said the spectrum should come from the mobile-phone industry occupying the 800 MHz band.

Even if first responders get the right equipment to operate in the 800 MHz band, it becomes “overwhelmed” in a crisis, said Berman, noting that “it will take a long time to migrate the cell-phone companies off of the 800 MHz band.”

“Ultimately first responders need both the same equipment or the codes to know what others are using and more spectrum,” Berman told RCR Wireless News.

Public safety is slated to receive 24 megahertz of spectrum in the 700 MHz band following completion of the digital TV transition with at least two megahertz to be set aside for interoperability. But Berman said the real need is in the 800 MHz band.

The FCC just recently adopted rules to shuffle the occupants of the 800 MHz band to solve an interference problem public safety was experiencing. That plan did not include moving any of the cellular licenses out of the band, although public safety will get access to more spectrum under the plan.

ABOUT AUTHOR