Should Private Firm Handle National Broadband Alerts?
A plan to have a private company build a nationwide broadband network for emergency response agencies wasn’t the perfect solution for two members of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, but it was the best compromise available, they told a group of public safety communications officers Tuesday. The FCC on July 31 set the conditions for spectrum to be auctioned by early next year in the 700MHz band, and that plan includes about 22MHz of spectrum for a broadband network to be built by the winning bidder of 10MHz of commercial spectrum that will be married with 12MHz set aside for emergency response agencies such as police and fire departments. FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein told the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials International (APCO), meeting in Baltimore this week, that his preference was to have the U.S. government pay for a nationwide, interoperable public safety network. But advocates of such a network have been calling for one for years without it
