NPSTC objects to new public broadband safety network proposal
In contrast to the 30 MHz Cyren Call system, new FCC approach allocates only 12 MHz; to state and local officials this is inadequate to encourage private industry to build out into remote area; universal access and interference protection at issue
Readers may perhaps recall our earlier reporting on the proposed Cyren Call nationwide broadband public safety network. Rejected last year by the FCC on jurisdictional grounds — and widely opposed by many beacuse it would give up to private industry 30 MHz of the 800 MHz band — the McLean, Virginia-based company has recently received a fresh look from a number of influential congressmen, including John McCain (R-Arizona). Nevertheless, the federal government is moving forward with an alternative under which the FCC would allocate only 12 MHz for the project. This proposal, however, is now facing additional challenges.
According to the National Public Safety Telecommunications Council (NPSTC), a national public safety organization comprised of police, emergency managers, and others, the 12 MHz proposed is inadequate to the task of providing universal access while protecting the system from interference. “We do not believe these attributes can be realized if public safety is limited to the 12 MHz,” the council explained. The reason, said NPSTC, is that the system will only reach full potential if there is “sufficient spectrum to attract commercial interest to invest in a shared government/commercial network” — the premise of the Cyren Call system. “The shared environment that would emerge provides adequate spectrum to protect all interests and a funding base to construct and maintain the network, a forceful incentive for coexistence.”
-read more at the NPSTC Web site
