Sprint Nextel pitches $2B plan to provide public-safety communications: Model would use fleets of trucks with cellular gear and satellite backhaul

Sprint Nextel Corp. has pitched to the Obama transition team a $2 billion plan to provide first responders with emergency interoperable wireless communications anywhere in the country within four hours, a model based on the use of fleets of trucks equipped with cellular gear and satellite backhaul.
The public-safety proposal, which could be funded out of the $825 billion economic stimulus package in Congress, is separate and radically different from Federal Communications Commission efforts to auction a national license or a set of regional licenses for public-safety and commercial broadband communications.
Sprint Nextel, the nation’s No. 3 mobile-phone carrier, which is struggling to keep pace with industry leaders Verizon Wireless and AT&T Mobility, said its public-safety proposal – capable of supporting voice and light data – could be deployed in about a year at a fraction of the expenditure implicated in the FCC’s 700 MHz D-Block plan. However, it does not appear that Sprint Nextel’s concept would offer the kind of broadband connectivity that first responders say they need and that was contemplated in D-Block plans championed by outgoing FCC Chairman Kevin Martin.
The 700 MHz, public-safety D Block failed to attract a successful bidder in last year’s auction, prompting the FCC to attempt to revise rules in an auction that is now in limbo. It is unclear whether the next FCC chairman in the Obama administration – presumably Julius Genachowski – will attempt to resurrect the D Block.
“Establishing a comprehensive, interoperable broadband public-safety communications solution will take years and cost tens of billions of dollars,” Sprint Nextel stated. “But public safety emergencies – floods, wildfires, earthquakes, ice storms or terrorist events – can happen anytime and America can’t wait for the communications solutions necessary to safeguard lives and property.”
Sprint Nextel’s proposal made no mention of specific network technology. Sprint Nextel runs a CDMA network and a separate iDEN network, and push-to-talk services are available on both networks.
Interestingly, though, Sprint Nextel hinted at “4G wireless broadband capability” in its proposal, contingent on additional funding beyond the initial $2 billion. Sprint Nextel is selling mobile WiMAX services through its deal with Clearwire Corp. under the “Sprint 4G” brand.
Members of Congress have repeatedly called for improved public-safety communications in light of problems that surfaced in recovery efforts following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and Hurricane Katrina four years later.