Public Safety Broadband Network Wins in Tax Cut Deal

The battle to establish an interoperable, nationwide broadband network for public safety appears to be over.

Congress passed legislation on Friday, Feb. 17, that reallocates the 700 MHz “D Block” section of the airwaves for the network and supplies $7 billion in federal grant money to kick-start the project. For more than a decade, public safety advocates had been seeking federal approval for a high-speed wireless system that connects police and firefighters across multiple jurisdictions. The spectrum and network provisions were tucked into the Temporary Payroll Tax Cut Continuation Act of 2011 (H.R. 3630) — which extends social security tax breaks for the middle class and unemployment benefits. Funding for the system will come out of an expected $22 billion stemming from future FCC auctions to commercial wireless providers of unused airwaves and “white space” spectrum — the band of frequencies between TV channels that are currently blank and serve as a buffer between the broadcast signals of various stations. Wireless communications placed in white space aren’t expected to be powerful enough to interfere with TV transmissions. Thanks to the legislation, the reallocation of D Block means that public safety will have 20 MHz of contiguous spectrum to launch the nationwide wireless broadband network. In addition, public safety also won’t be required to return its 700 MHz narrowband spectrum.