Senators: FCC Must Focus on Public Safety in 700 MHz Rules
Public safety needs must get prime consideration when the FCC writes rules for the 700 MHz auction, Senate Commerce Committee members said at a hearing Thurs. Many members passionately urged the FCC to require commercial interests to build networks and prohibit them from making quick profits through resales. Members also agreed that interoperability is an important public safety need, but the panel was divided on whether the spectrum auction could provide the solution.
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Sen. Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) took the strongest stand in advocating in behalf of public safety. He suggested that the FCC take more time, if needed, to get the rules right. Condemning Congress for failing to devote enough money for public safety, Rockefeller said the FCC, as “guardians of this scarce public resource, must make sure all Americans benefit from its sale.” The absence of a fully funded broadband network for public safety is “something we all should be ashamed of,” he said.
Senate Commerce Committee Chmn. Inouye (D-Hawaii) said he wasn’t convinced which auction plan was best. Vice Chmn. Stevens (R-Alaska) attacked the Frontline plan for the spectrum, calling it a “Cyren Call Lite.” Stevens asked panelists whether auction rules that would require a public safety network would create a disincentive for bidders. If that was the case, he asked whether the amount of money that would be saved from such a requirement could be turned over directly to public safety, avoiding the need for auction rules that would discourage bidders.
N.Y. City Comr. Paul Cosgrave told Stevens an estimated $5 billion could be gained from an “unencumbered” auction, but that wouldn’t be enough money for a nationwide interoperable network. Cosgrave said he thinks the public- private partnership model, requiring that some of the network be devoted to public safety, is “fraught with uncertainties and risks.” But he told the panel that the idea deserves merit and should continue to be developed. N.Y. is developing a $1 billion local network and has received little federal assistance, Cosgrave said.
“We need to complete this process,” said Sen. Sununu (R- N.H.): “It’s essential. It’s right for public safety as well.” But Sununu said regulatory mandates would reduce investment in the spectrum. Much of the discussion about first responders’ problems doesn’t take up one of the biggest, he said: Local organizations don’t want to embrace open standards. He suggested that public safety organizations set aside “turf issues” and adopt a “change in approach and mentality” in addition to adding spectrum to solve interoperability problems.
The FCC should require an auction winner to build a broadband network serving both public safety and commercial users, said APCO Training Manager Wanda McCarley. She stopped short of saying she supported the Frontline proposal when asked by Inouye, but said it had some “interesting points in the direction of a solution.” Public safety groups had backed a proposal by Cyren Call that would have let them run the network. Public safety wants the “final word when it comes to the design, deployment and management” of the network, she said. The Public Safety Spectrum Trust Corp. -- a nonprofit group that includes officials from major public safety organizations -- would be an ideal group to serve as the licensee, she said.
Sen. Dorgan (D-N.D.) asked Frontline partner James Barksdale whether the group’s open access commitment was equivalent to net neutrality. They're different, Barksdale said: Net neutrality in the sense Dorgan was using applies mainly to existing incumbents. Frontline’s open access commitment is intended to promote competition by ensuring that service providers can offer competition, he said; Frontline would act as a wholesaler.
Still, the proposal prompted a spate of releases from net neutrality advocates and opponents. “Latest La La Land Attempt to Impose Net Neutrality,” said Precursor’s Scott Cleland. “Net neutrality will be every bit as expensive and unnecessary for the wireless Internet as it is for the wired web,” said Mike McCurry and Christopher Wolf, co-chairs of Hands Off the Internet. FCC restraint is why mobile phone prices have dropped, they said, adding that there’s not reason for the Commission to diverge from the policies that “created this success.” Open access likely will enhance the value of the spectrum by opening the public airwaves to entrepreneurs who might not otherwise have access, said the Ad Hoc Public Interest Spectrum Coalition.