PSST Pushes Emergency Spectrum Use

The Public Safety Spectrum Trust (PSST) wants President-elect Barrack Obama to make a proposed shared interoperable emergency communications network part of his proposed economic stimulus plan, arguing it could create millions of jobs, upgrade emergency communications, and provide the broadband link to underserved communities nationwide that Obama is seeking. The PSST was picked by the FCC to be the licensee of a 10 mhz swatch of spectrum the FCC set aside for emergency communications as part of its 700 mhz spectrum auction earlier this year. It was to have been paired with a 10 mhz block of commercial spectrum in a public-private partnership, but nobody bid the minimum price for the commercial block and the FCC is now trying to figure out how to attract a bidder when it re-auctions the spectrum next year. The proposal is that all the spectrum, including the 10 mhz allocated to PSST, would be used for commercial purposes, but all of it would be given over to emergency communications in times of natural or man-made disaster. Improving emergency communications has been on the government agenda since 9/11.