Limits on Wireless Leave U.S. at Risk

[Commentary] For the past two years, everyone in Washington has agreed that the country needs a new telecommunications law. But no one has been able to provide a reason in terms that any voter could grasp. One of the many outcomes of the Katrina and Rita catastrophes is that we all know, tragically and inescapably, that America needs a new, up-to-date communications network. If a law will give us that, then Congress should pass that law. In a hurry. This means enacting laws that encourage municipalities and new entrants to quickly build competing broadband infrastructure, such as the Community Broadband Act, proposed by Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J. Congress should grant $1 billion in federal matching grants to any municipality that will pay 50 percent of the cost of such a local wireless broadband network. Local government should let competitive contracts and build city-by-city, county-by-county, coast-to-coast WiFi network. Officials ought to reallocate a spectrum, probably in the 700 megahertz band, for a national wireless network reserved for first responders. The local WiFi networks can be used by anyone with a laptop. The first-responder network would be available only for authorized emergency services. But for the first time all -- the Department of Homeland Security, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, local police departments, local firefighters and so on -- would be on the same network. They could use similar equipment. They could communicate with each other, saving lives and taking fewer risks to do so. The Federal Communications Commission should reallocate the spectrum. Congress should appropriate the money. Finally, Congress should ask the FCC to coordinate the repair and relief efforts of the big commercial wireless, wire, cable, broadcast and satellite networks. The able new chairman of the FCC has led a bipartisan commission with energy and focus in assessing what went wrong and what can be done better to repair downed networks. Congress should give the FCC chairman the tools he needs to make sure that we all learn the hard lesson of Katrina and Rita.
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News 10/16, AUTHOR:Reed Hundt, former FCC Chairman]
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/opinion/12917284.htm