FCC Meeting on Public Safety Communications and the D Block Auction

On July 30, the Federal Communications Commission heard from expert panelists regarding public safety interoperable communications and the 700 MHz D Block proceeding. Experts from public safety, 911 commission, NYC government, state governments, and communications industry discussed ways to bring vitally important interoperable communications to America's first responders. Commissioner Michael Copps, noting the proximity of the meeting to the place the World Trade center once stood, highlighted the FCC's failure in helping to deploy an interoperable wireless public safety broadband network. He identified a number of unanswered questions: "What purpose should this network serve? Is it mission-critical voice? Non-mission-critical voice? Video? Data? A backbone that connects existing voice networks? Or a whole new, built-from-scratch network that can do it all? What are the construction and operational costs of each? How does each of these choices impact the financial feasibility of a public-private partnership? Should licenses be regional or national? What is the appropriate build-out level and time-frame for deployment? How can the Commission be sure that states and localities across the nation will actually make use of this network if we manage to get it built? How can the Commission be sure that the rules it selects will actually produce a bidder this time around?"