NCJ Number
220652
Journal
Police Chief Volume: 74 Issue: 9 Dated: September 2007 Pages: 66,68,70,71
Date Published
September 2007
Length
4 pages
Annotation
This article reports on the status of a plan to create a nationwide, interoperable wireless broadband network that would enable public safety agencies to have seamless nationwide roaming capability.
Abstract
The public safety community is currently supporting a proposal to create such a network based on a public-private partnership model. The public safety benefits envisioned are broadband data services that are currently unavailable in existing land mobile systems; a hardened network with infrastructure built to withstand power outages; nationwide roaming and interoperability for local, State, and Federal public safety agencies; access to the Public Switches Telephone Network similar to current commercial cellular services; push-to-talk, one-to-one, and one-to-many radio capabilities; and access to satellite services. In anticipation of possible Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approval of this concept, some of the national public safety organizations created a new nonprofit corporation called the Public Safety Spectrum Trust (PSST), which will apply to the FCC to become the new National Public Safety Licensee. On July 31, 2007, the FCC voted to adopt rules for implementation of a nationwide interoperable broadband public safety network in the 700-MHz band. On August 10, 2007, the FCC issued a Report and Order (R&O) on the matter, which will become effective 60 days after publication in the Federal Register. The R&O designates 10 MHz of the currently allocated 700-MHz public safety spectrum to be combined with 10 MHz of the auctioned spectrum to provide a total of 20 MHz of spectrum for the new network. The R&O also provides for a single Public Safety Broadband Licensee that will negotiate a network-sharing agreement with the auction winner of the adjacent spectrum to form the new nationwide public-private broadband network. 1 figure