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FCC, Congress Spar Over Public Safety Spectrum
04.15.08
from PCMag.com
by Chloe Albanesius
All five members of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) took some heat Tuesday over the lackluster response to the public safety D-block spectrum auction, but the commissioners placed some of the blame on Congress and its failure to allocate adequate funding for the project.
"Congress has not yet passed any law that would require funding to go to the public safety networks," FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said during a House Energy and Commerce Internet and Telecom subcommittee hearing on the 700-MHz auction.
The preferable option would be to fund and build a public safety network with federal dollars, but without that option, a public-private partnership was the only alternative, Martin said.
"Congress has some responsibility too," said Democratic Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein.
At issue is the recently concluded 700-MHz auction. The FCC raised more than $19 billion auctioning off valuable spectrum that will allow for wireless broadband capabilities. Among the five blocks of available spectrum was the D-block, which the winner would have had to make available to public safety officials if it reached a reserve price of $1.3 billion. Bidding, however, did not attract anything beyond an initial $472 million bid from Qualcomm.
Had a company made a $1.3 billion bid for the D-block, they would have purchased the rights to 10 MHz of spectrum on the D-block. They would have then had to partner with the Public Safety Spectrum Trust (PSST), which owns the rights to an additional 10-MHz spectrum, and fund the build-out of a network that would be used by public safety in times of emergency.
Without the investment of the commercial D-block winner, however, the public safety network has no money, and is basically stuck until the FCC decides how to re-auction the D-block spectrum.
"Absent a legislative change that would provide the kind of resources that would be necessary" to build the public safety network, a public-private partnership is the best solution, Martin said.
Adelstein, Democratic Commissioner Michael Copps, as well as Republican Commissioners Deborah Tate and Robert McDowell, echoed Martin's sentiments.
04.15.08
from PCMag.com
by Chloe Albanesius
All five members of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) took some heat Tuesday over the lackluster response to the public safety D-block spectrum auction, but the commissioners placed some of the blame on Congress and its failure to allocate adequate funding for the project.
"Congress has not yet passed any law that would require funding to go to the public safety networks," FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said during a House Energy and Commerce Internet and Telecom subcommittee hearing on the 700-MHz auction.
The preferable option would be to fund and build a public safety network with federal dollars, but without that option, a public-private partnership was the only alternative, Martin said.
"Congress has some responsibility too," said Democratic Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein.
At issue is the recently concluded 700-MHz auction. The FCC raised more than $19 billion auctioning off valuable spectrum that will allow for wireless broadband capabilities. Among the five blocks of available spectrum was the D-block, which the winner would have had to make available to public safety officials if it reached a reserve price of $1.3 billion. Bidding, however, did not attract anything beyond an initial $472 million bid from Qualcomm.
Had a company made a $1.3 billion bid for the D-block, they would have purchased the rights to 10 MHz of spectrum on the D-block. They would have then had to partner with the Public Safety Spectrum Trust (PSST), which owns the rights to an additional 10-MHz spectrum, and fund the build-out of a network that would be used by public safety in times of emergency.
Without the investment of the commercial D-block winner, however, the public safety network has no money, and is basically stuck until the FCC decides how to re-auction the D-block spectrum.
"Absent a legislative change that would provide the kind of resources that would be necessary" to build the public safety network, a public-private partnership is the best solution, Martin said.
Adelstein, Democratic Commissioner Michael Copps, as well as Republican Commissioners Deborah Tate and Robert McDowell, echoed Martin's sentiments.
