FCC Is Weighing Sale Of Emergency Airwaves

The Federal Communications Commission is considering carving up a valuable block of airwaves designated for firefighters and police officers and selling the spectrum to commercial partners by state or region, despite objections from some big-city officials. The cities want the broadcasting real estate for free. The proposal circulating within the FCC is the latest round in a fight that goes back to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, when police, firefighters and other emergency crews struggled with communications systems that didn't talk to each other. The FCC's effort earlier this year to sell the block of channels to one national licensee failed because no commercial phone companies were interested in buying the spectrum under the FCC's terms. Critics said that the sale didn't work because the reliability standards demanded by public safety were too onerous and that the FCC didn't spell out the companies' obligations to public safety. The FCC now is expected to vote on a rule this month to set the terms for a new sale that would offer phone companies and other entities the chance to bid for chunks of spectrum on a regional basis, with the understanding that public-safety agencies would get rights to use some of the broadcast capability for emergency communications. The proposal is circulating among the five-member body now and is on the agenda for a Sept. 25 meeting. But some public-safety entities disagree about whether the sale should take place at all. New York City has been the most vocal of several large cities, arguing the spectrum should be handed over to states and cities to build their own communications networks as they choose.