Critics oppose Republican spectrum plan

IDG News Service - A Republican proposal to auction more wireless spectrum to mobile carriers would leave U.S. police and fire departments "worse off" than they are today, instead of creating the new nationwide public safety mobile-broadband network anticipated for a decade, one police chief said Friday.

The proposal, released this week by Republican members of the U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee, focuses on clearing spectrum for mobile broadband uses.

But the draft legislation would stop mobile voice deployments by public safety agencies now happening in the 700MHz spectrum band, and it would auction off the so-called D block of spectrum in that band, instead of turning it over to public safety agencies, as many police and fire departments have long advocated, said Christopher Moore, chief of police in San Jose, California.

"We cannot support this draft legislation," Moore told the committee's communications subcommittee. "We are not here asking for the spectrum and funding to make a profit. We are here asking for spectrum and funding in order for us to better serve and protect the American people."

Other critics told the subcommittee they opposed the Republican spectrum proposal because it would limit the authority of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission to conduct auctions of spectrum from television stations and it would make it difficult for the FCC to reserve spectrum for unlicensed uses.

Public safety agencies have been awaiting a nationwide network since the 9/11 attacks on the U.S., when responding agencies to the attacks couldn't communicate with each other because of incompatible equipment using multiple bands of spectrum.

The Public Safety Alliance, an advocacy group of public safety agencies and supporters, will "strongly oppose" any efforts to auction the D block, Moore said. The draft legislation also doesn't give priority funding from spectrum auctions to the deployment of the public safety network, he said.

The FCC, in an auction that ended in early 2008, attempted to sell the D block, on the condition that the winner build a nationwide network to be shared between public safety agencies and commercial users. The auction failed to generate the FCC's minimum bid, and the D block has been in limbo ever since.

In February, President Barack Obama called on Congress to give the D block to public safety agencies and allocate more than $10 billion to build a nationwide network. But Republican subcommittee members said Friday they have to consider the U.S. government's $1.5 trillion budget deficit when deciding whether to auction the D block.

"Any plan to allocate this prime spectrum opens a $3 billion hole in the nation's budget," said Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.) the subcommittee chairman.