Call to Action: Congress Needs To Reallocate Spectrum for Public

Call to Action: Congress Needs To Reallocate Spectrum for Public
2010 Jan 28

APCO President Dick Mirgon and Executive Committee Members came to Washington, DC on January 12 as part of a unified group of major national public safety associations to urge Congress and the Obama Administration to reallocate the 700 MHz D Block spectrum to public safety for broadband. President Mirgon requests that all APCO Members contact their congressional delegation, both US Senators and US Representatives, to strongly support our nation's first responders by providing the critical additional spectrum for priority broadband use. Be sure to ask for the legislative staff that works on telecommunications issues.

In the absence of swift Congressional action to remove the D Block from auction, the FCC must, under current law, "expeditiously" re-auction this critical spectrum. This would effectively forever preclude public safety's ability to obtain 20 MHz of contiguous spectrum in the 700 MHz band.

Specifically, we request that Congress pass legislation directing the FCC to remove any auction requirements for the D Block and to allocate it directly to public safety as part of the nationwide Public Safety Broadband License (PSBL). This will result in public safety having access to 20 MHz of broadband spectrum that is essential to meet public safety's expanding requirements and to maximize efficient use of broadband technologies. We request that Congress and the FCC work with public safety to identify dedicated funding sources to build and maintain the nationwide public safety wireless broadband network. Additionally, a source of funding will be required to support the PSBL to help ensure a nationwide framework for interoperability.