NARUC panelists discussing safety agencies’ interoperable wireles...

public safety agencies will need much more spectrum for interoperable wireless broadband service than FCC plans, and explained their respective proposals to the FCC for using additional radio spectrum they want for nationwide public safety broadband service. Both drew strong criticism from other panelists. Christopher Guttman-McCabe, CITA regulatory vp, said Cyren Call and M2Z effectively would be creating brand-new wireless carriers supported by a mix of govt. and private sources. “These approaches are unnecessary and represent regression to wireless spectrum allocation policies that we wisely discarded in favor of auctions.” He said rebanding plans for the 700 MHz band have set aside 24 MHz for safety broadband use, a volume he compared to that needed for wireless voice service to 200 million-plus subscribers. Neither M2Z nor Cyren has shown why the planned allocation is inadequate, or why wireless market forces won’t meet safety agencies’ interoperable broadband needs, he said. Jill Canfield, state regulatory counsel for the National Telecom Cooperative Assn., said the nationwide broadband services proposed by M2Z or Cyren won’t reach deeply rural areas. “National service rarely includes truly rural areas. National providers always start out in major urban markets with rural areas coming in last,” she said. Existing rural telecom providers are the best path for meeting rural public safety agencies’ broadband needs, she said: “They are local companies run by people who live in the areas they serve.” Jeffrey Eisenach, chmn. of Criterion Economics, agreed that the 24 MHz being set aside for public safety broadband “is plenty. There’s no need to assign more.” He said Cyren Call’s broadband plan is particularly risky because it would lock up spectrum in a company subsidized and run by govt. agencies. “If Cyren Call’s plan is truly viable, let them find private capital and bid for additional spectrum in the auction,” he said.