RFSTUF

King: Now is Time to Reallocate D Block

Bill would pay for spectrum through auction of broadcast, other spectrum to wireless companies

By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 3/30/2011 11:16:21 AM

Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.), chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee says it is time to allocate, not auction, D block spectrum for a national interoperable public safety network.

That came in a hearing in the committee Wednesday on King's re-introduction of a bill (H 607) that would allocate the D block spectrum and pay for it through auction of broadcast and other spectrum to wireless companies. The hearing hosted public safety officials backing the bill and saying it was past time to create and fund the network in the shadow of the tenth anniversary of 9/11.

William Carrow, president of the The Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO), said that the needs of first responders are not being met, and that young people coming into public safety jobs have more capabilities on their personal communications devices than they do in their jobs. He said allocating the D block to public safety (10 MHz adjacent to the 10 MHz already allocated to public safety) is a unique opportunity to give public safety exactly what it needs. ...