Verizon Says It Has No Firm Alternative to Cyren Call Proposal
Verizon Wireless doesn’t have a proposal to offer a purported 12 MHz alternative to Cyren Call’s proposed 30 MHz public safety broadband network, Verizon Exec. Vp Public Affairs Tom Tauke said Mon. Tauke’s remarks confirm that while Verizon has floated a proposal, it was never fully developed into a working plan.
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“There is no proposal,” Tauke said. “I know there have been supposed reports about a proposal. There is no proposal… We have talked in general terms also to players about how do you solve the interoperability issue. We go around and we talk to a lot of people and say what are the options here, but we have no proposal.”
Verizon Wireless Gen. Counsel Steve Zipperstein and former NTIA Dir. Nancy Victory met with public safety officials last summer to discuss what sources say was presented as a “concept” rather than a concrete plan as an alternative to Cyren Call’s proposal for a 30 MHz public safety broadband trust.
In Dec., when the FCC voted to seek comment on a proposal to use 12 MHz of 24 MHz of 700 MHz spectrum set aside for public safety after the DTV transition to launch a national safety broadband network, sources said it resembled the Verizon concept (CD Dec 21 p7). Chmn. Martin’s office has denied that the notice of proposed rulemaking was in reaction to Verizon lobbying, sources said.
A public safety official said Mon. the Dec. NPRM was similar in many ways to what Verizon floated last summer. “Verizon spoke to us once or twice about their concepts and we were under the impression that they were going to turn that into some sort of plan,” the official said: “We never heard from them again on it… Is there a proposal? It depends on what a proposal is.”
Verizon has worked against the Cyren Call proposal on Capitol Hill and joined the reformulated High Tech DTV Coalition, which has been building a case against the Cyren Call proposal (CD Feb 7 p3).
“We believe that what Congress has already adopted makes sense and think it’s a path toward achieving the goal of interoperability for first responders,” Tauke said. Tauke said the key elements of the plan are: (1) Getting standards set by the Dept. of Homeland Security. (2) Completing the 700 MHz auction. (3) Ensuring that money from the auction goes to support the implementation of a public safety interoperability plan. (4) Ensuring that the FCC complete the Dec. NPRM on how spectrum dedicated to public safety be used.