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US and Mexico strike public safety spectrum deal along national borders
The FCC announced today that Chairman Julius Genachowski has entered into an agreement with Mexico's telecommunications officials to create a new spectrum sharing scheme along the nation's borders. The move will normalize 800MHz and 1900MHz spectrum use within 68 miles of the common border, and is primarily intended to reduce interference and allow for reliable public safety communications in the region. Further rollout of commercial services is also central to the pact, as Sprint has been authorized to deploy its CDMA service in the 1900MHz spectrum along the border. The move is hardly a free gift, however, as Sprint had previously surrendered a share of its 800MHz holdings to pave way for the agreement. A bi-national task force will oversee the adjustment process, and both nations have agreed to discuss future spectrum coordination along the border in future meetings. Proof that cooperation isn't completely dead, folks. To gain a greater understanding of where both nations are headed, just hop the break for the announcement.
FCC hails spectrum alliances with Canada and Mexico, seeks to reduce border conflicts
It's not every day that the FCC enters into new multinational agreements, so you'll have to forgive us for getting excited over the latest communique between Chairman Julius Genachowski and his counterparts in Canada and Mexico. After much negotiation, the regulatory heads have created a framework to resolve frequency conflicts along our nations' borders. While the deal with Mexico only applies to the 700MHz spectrum, the agreement with Canada also covers the 800MHz range. By reducing interference and maximizing spectrum allocation, Genachowski believes "these arrangements will unleash investment and benefit consumers near the borders by enabling the rollout of 4G wireless broadband service and advanced systems for critical public safety and emergency response communications." Once the policies become official mandates, license holders must coordinate and implement techniques to mitigate signal interference or face some nasty regulatory intervention. If you're a sucker for policy, just leap the break for the full press release.
White House backs plan to reserve 700MHz 'D Block' for public safety network
Public safety agencies in the US have been pushing for some time to have the so-called 'D Block' portion of the 700MHz wireless spectrum all to themselves, and it looks like they can now officially count on the support of the White House in that effort. The Obama administration announced today that it's backing plans to reserve the airwaves -- estimated to be worth $3 billion if they were auctioned off -- for a new national public safety network, and it also plans to ask Congress to approve the additional spending needed to actually build out the network, which the FCC estimates could cost as much as $15 billion. As The Wall Street Journal notes, the fate of the proposed network is now largely in the hands of House Republicans, who remain divided on the plan -- although some key members have come out in support of it in recent days.
FCC unanimously approves LTE standard for nationwide public safety network
The FCC's been looking to establish a nationwide public safety network since the early days of the infamous 700MHz spectrum auction, and while it never quite accomplished that task, the commission has made a small but important step -- it's unanimously decided that Long Term Evolution (LTE) will be the one ring that binds all future chunks of public safety radio band. Of course, this wasn't a terribly hard decision for the FCC to make, as major commercial cellular carriers and a number of regional public safety agencies have already invested in LTE equipment for the 700MHz band... and the decision doesn't yet specify a voice standard. All that's been decided upon is how those countless packets of data will float over the air. How will disparate groups of first responders communicate with one another in the event of a national emergency? That's what the organization is asking you right now -- feel free to contact the FCC anytime within the next 45 days with your proposal.
Public safety agencies want D Block for themselves, FCC still seeking auction
The 700MHz 'D Block' has been the subject of much debate over the past few years, primarily because the FCC's master plan to auction it off -- yet require the winner to open up the waves for public safety use on command -- didn't exactly pan out. Post-failure, the agency made clear its plans to host up another auction or two in order to accomplish the same goal via slightly different means, but now public safety entities are coming forward with a healthy amount of opposition. Rob Davis, head of the San Jose Police Department, puts it bluntly: "If they auction this spectrum, we've lost it forever." These public safety officials also have allies in Congress, with many worried that auctioning off the spectrum may lead to an inability to accurately wield bandwidth in a hurry if needed during a national emergency. The FCC plan also alleviates the cost issue, but public advocates have a solution there as well -- they say that if given the 'D Block' outright, they could "lease excess airwaves to commercial carriers since they would not always need all of it." Of course, that's a pretty big assumption about the willingness of carriers to lease space, and we suspect a lot more back-and-forth will go on here in the coming months. Oh, the drama.
