Senators Debate Wireless Network For Safety Workers

SENATORS DEBATE WIRELESS NETWORK FOR SAFETY WORKERS
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Amol Sharma at amol.sharma@wsj.com and Amy Schatz]
Emergency workers have long complained that their communications systems are outdated and underfunded. Now, convinced that the federal government alone can't answer their concerns, public-safety groups are turning to commercial wireless companies for help. First responders can't always communicate with each other during major disasters because their telecom equipment is incompatible with that of other agencies. What's more, much of the equipment is both expensive and out of date: In some cases, police agencies are paying $3,500 each for two-way radio devices. To improve communications among emergency workers, Cyren Call, a company launched by Nextel Communications founder Morgan O'Brien, has been lobbying feverishly for a plan to involve the private sector in public-safety upgrades. Under the plan, a slice of the radio spectrum would be reserved for public-safety use and licensed to an entity called a Public Safety Broadband Trust. A private bidder would be selected to manage the creation of a broadband network shared by consumer cellphone users and public-safety workers such as firemen and policemen; in an emergency, public-safety users would take precedence. Small rural operators would pay to build out the infrastructure; in exchange, they would be able to offer services over frequencies they didn't have to pay for. The new Congress is taking a hard look at the idea. Republican presidential contender Sen. John McCain of Arizona announced plans to introduce legislation that would take a similar approach. Today, the Senate Commerce Committee is planning to hold a hearing to consider it, and Senate staffers say it has support from some top Democrats. But getting any legislation through a divided Congress this year will be difficult, especially given the controversy the plan is generating in the wireless industry. Critics say it amounts to a corporate giveaway to Cyren Call. There are better ways to go about improving public-safety communications, they say, without setting aside valuable frequencies for public-safety use.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117089830395901706.html?mod=todays_us_marketplace
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The Senate Commerce Committee holds a hearing this morning, "The Present and Future of Public Safety Communications." See http://commerce.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Hearings.Hearing&Hearing_ID=1813 for a list of witnesses.