RFSTUF

Waxman: Emergency System Needs Upgrade

Leans towards no reallocation of D-Bloc, to Public Safety

By Rep. Henry Waxman
Special to Roll Call

July 12, 2010, 12 a.m.

...I know that the discussion draft does not satisfy all of the public safety community. Several associations and their corporate partners have launched a campaign to persuade Congress to give public safety the D Block rather than auction it to the highest bidder. But this singular focus on ownership of the D Block may undercut what we all want to achieve: a sustainable nationwide broadband network for public safety. In large cities such as New York or Los Angeles, the D Block could command high values, so public safety officials there could lease portions of the D Block to finance network construction. That is not an approach that will work for rural areas where there will be only limited demand for additional spectrum capacity. ...