Public-safety amendment would require 700 MHz interoperability: Updated: Bill makes it out of committee this morning

Editor’s Note: The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation approved the Spectrum Act this morning, a key step in getting more spectrum into the hands of first responders. The text of the bill, including amendments, was not available at press time. Once the text becomes available, we will post another story.
Ahead of tomorrow’s expected markup of legislation to reallocate D-Block spectrum to public safety, lobbying and public-safety groups are turning up the volume on the proposed bill. The proposed legislation would reallocate D-block spectrum to first responders and allow the Federal Communications Commission to hold incentive auctions to raise funds to pay for a public-safety network, among other things.
At issue during such a debate is the cost of the new network and whether the network will be truly interoperable. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-W.V.) and Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) have been working together to get bipartisan support for the measure.
Interoperability between disparate public-safety systems is one of the huge drivers behind the bill. Lawmakers and federal regulators are under pressure to find some kind of solution for public-safety before Sept. 11 marks 10 years since terrorist attacks, where rescue efforts were marred because some first-responder devices could not communicate with others.
“While the reallocation of this spectrum has taken center stage throughout this debate, it began as an issue of interoperability, and that still remains the most pressing need in enabling our country’s first responders to talk to one another using advanced broadband wireless communications. Without interoperability across the 700 MHz band classes, first responders will be without access to redundant, advanced wireless networks in an emergency and many in the public safety community will not have access to affordable 4G equipment,” the Connect Public Safety Now Coalition. This group includes trade associations the Rural Cellular Association, the Rural Telecommunications Group and operators including Sprint Nextel Corp. and MetroPCS Communications Inc.
The Public Safety Now Coalition supports an amendment by Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Mo.) and Sen. Mark Begich (D-Alaska) that would require any 700 MHz devices deployed one year after the bill is enacted be capable of operating on any 700 MHz network. Today, Verizon Wireless requires its LTE equipment manufacturers to only support Band 13 at 700 MHz, while AT&T Mobility’s LTE network runs on Band 17. Device manufacturers can support however many bands they want, but the legislation would force interoperability with the larger operators, a move smaller operators have been trying to get approved at the FCC.
“After nine hearings on this issue in less than a year, it’s time for all Members of Congress – Republicans and Democrats – to get behind this bill and support America’s first responders,” said Public Safety Alliance spokesman Chief Christopher Moore. “It’s long overdue for this bill to move out of committee. And, the votes tomorrow will demonstrate who believes the safety of the American people is what’s most important in this debate.”
The 9/11 Commission Chairman Tom Kean and Vice Chairman Lee Hamilton cautioned that should the D-Block network go down in an emergency, first responders would have a difficult time communicating and urged other interoperability measures, whether through this legislation or another bill.