Emergency Communications

In 2012, Congress passed legislation requiring the Federal Communications Commission to reallocate and auction T-Band spectrum used for decades by public safety licensees and fund the relocation of those licensees elsewhere. The agency has extensively analyzed the T-Band and concluded that moving forward is not viable—relocation costs for public safety licensees would likely far exceed any potential auction revenue, making it impossible to fund the relocation and comply with the mandate.

The Federal Communications Commission adopted rules that will help first responders locate people who call 911 from wireless phones in multi-story buildings. The rules will help emergency responders determine the floor level of a 911 caller, which will reduce emergency response times and ultimately save lives. The action builds on the FCC’s efforts to improve its Enhanced 911 rules, which require wireless providers to transmit to 911 call centers information on the location of wireless 911 calls.

Power companies, first responders and railroads are intensifying criticism of the Federal Communications Commission’s plan to allow Wi-Fi traffic on the 6 GHz band of airwaves they currently use.

The Federal Communications Commission released four reports from its Intergovernmental Advisory Committee (IAC). The reports aim to assist state, local, Tribal, and territorial officials and other stakeholders by offering recommendations and best practices to improve emergency alerting, bolster communications reliability during disasters, and promote the use of telemedicine:

T-Mobile plans to light up its nationwide 5G on Dec 6, laying a foundation for the New T-Mobile’s massive network that will have the capacity to deliver breakthrough connectivity initiatives to millions if the T-Mobile/Sprint merger closes in 2020.

The Federal Communications Commission announced settlements with CenturyLink and West Safety Communications to conclude investigations into violations of FCC rules in connection with a multi-state 911 outage that took place on Aug 1, 2018.

Dayslong power outages in California are revealing an inconvenient fact about modern phones: When the electricity goes out, so do they. Power shutdowns in the state meant to prevent further fire risk have cut power to some cell towers, as well as to cable providers that sell home voice services along with television programming and internet access.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai announced that the items below are tentatively on the agenda for the Open FCC Meeting scheduled for Tuesday, Nov 19, 2019:

The Federal Communications Commission streamlined rules and procedures to reduce administrative costs and accelerate the successful conclusion of its 800 MHz band reconfiguration program. In 2004, the FCClaunched its 800 MHz reconfiguration program, known as rebanding, to eliminate harmful interference to public safety radio systems and other licensees caused by Sprint and other commercial operators The rebanding process is now nearly complete, with over 2,000 licensees relocated to new channels in the band, and only 19 licensees yet to be relocated.  The FCC has now adopted an Order that s

The Federal Communications Commission clarified that state, local, and Tribal governments cannot charge the same class of subscribers total 911 fees that are higher for VoIP services than for traditional telecommunications services with the same 911 calling capability.