Spectrum public safety plan meets resistance at hearing

SPECTRUM PUBLIC SAFETY PLAN MEETS RESISTANCE AT HEARING
[SOURCE: PC World, AUTHOR: Grant Gross]
A plan to have private investors build a national wireless broadband network for police and fire departments met resistance at a U.S. Senate hearing Thursday, including from the man in charge of New York's emergency broadband network. Startup Frontline Wireless LLC, backed by two former Federal Communications Commission chairmen and several tech industry heavyweights, would set aside 22MHz of wireless spectrum from an upcoming auction of the 700MHz band for a dual-use commercial and emergency response network, with the winning bidder required to build a nationwide network that would give priority to police and fire departments. A national broadband network for emergency response agencies would take billions of dollars to build, and a public-private partnership like the one Frontline has proposed is the only way it will happen, said James Barksdale, president and CEO of investment group Barksdale Management Corp. and a partner in Frontline. The U.S. government lacks the money to build the network, he said. "We're not asking agencies to give us the spectrum," Barksdale said. "And public safety gets a free ride on it -- that's a heck of a deal."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/14/AR200706...

* Former FCC Chair Mark Fowler joins Frontier Wireless
[SOURCE: Lasar's Letter on the FCC, AUTHOR: Matthew Lasar]
The man who once famously called television "just another appliance" and "a toaster with pictures" has signed up with a major player in the FCC's 700 MHz wireless auction proceeding. Mark Fowler served as Ronald Reagan's Federal Communications Commission Chair from 1981 through 1987. During his tenure Fowler oversaw the massive deregulation of the broadcasting industry and the rise of cable television. Now he has joined Frontline Wireless, a prominent participant in the FCC's proceeding on rules for the agency's upcoming auction of the 700 MHz band, sold off as TV stations vacate the region and take up digital signals. But even Fowler concedes that the FCC will need to attach some "smart regulations" to the sale.
http://www.lasarletter.net/drupal/node/410