WASHINGTON-Public safety and other private wireless licensees have challenged the Federal Communications Commission’s digital TV plan, saying it will cause interference to internal radio systems in Los Angeles and delay the availability of new spectrum for police, fire and emergency medical communications in the region.
While lauding the FCC’s decision to reserve 24 megahertz of the digital TV spectrum for public-safety communications, the Association for Public Safety Communications Officials-International Inc. said, “some metropolitan areas are being left behind, and will be unable to utilize all of the newly reallocated spectrum until the end of the DTV transition.”
The transition from analog to digital TV technology could take 10 to 15 years.
The Land Mobile Communications Council said the FCC should examine other alternatives “to reduce the impact on both existing mobile and near-term spectrum recovery efforts.”
