FCC: FirstNet just needs to ask for 700 MHz public-safety spectrum

The Federal Communications Commission is ready to transfer the license for 700 MHz broadband public-safety spectrum to the First Responder Network Authority, as soon as the FCC receives a formal request for it.

In a largely administrative order, the FCC noted that FirstNet's Board has now been appointed and is in a position to request the license. "Accordingly, we are prepared to take the ministerial step of granting a new license to FirstNet under a new call sign as soon as possible after FirstNet informs the Bureau that it has been established in accordance with the terms of the Public Safety Spectrum Act and submits a request for the license specified by Section 6201 of the Public Safety Spectrum Act," said the commission. The Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012, passed in February 2012, established FirstNet to oversee the construction and operation of the nationwide public-safety LTE network as licensee of both the existing public safety broadband spectrum--763-769/793-799 MHz--and the spectrally adjacent 700 MHz D Block spectrum--758-763/788-793 MHz.