WHILE THE 700 MHZ OPEN-ACCESS COURT BATTLE ESCALATES into a brawl among major stakeholders eyeing the upcoming auction, the public-safety community is methodically laying the foundation to partner with the winner of a national wireless license in an unprecedented experiment of high stakes for first responders and vendors alike.
Last week, the Public Safety Spectrum Trust filed an application with the Federal Communications Commission to become the licensee that partners with the winning bidder of the commercial/first-responder broadband wireless license in the 700 MHz auction, scheduled to start Jan. 24.
Public safety makes plans
“The PSST is moving ahead with all necessary activities toward creating a nationwide wireless broadband network built to meet the mission-critical communications needs of public safety,” said Harlin McEwen, chairman of the nonprofit group. “The filing of our application today to be the public-safety broadband licensee represents the collective hard work of public safety, and we look forward to a timely decision and license award by the FCC.” McEwen added: “With time short before the start of the 700 MHz auction, today’s filing is one of several important steps we have taken to be an engaged partner for the winner of the D-block auction.”
The PSST board of directors is comprised of representatives from the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials-International, the Forestry Conservation Communications Association, the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the International Association of Fire Chiefs, the International Municipal Signal Association, the National Association of State Emergency Medical Services Officials, the National Emergency Number Association and the National Sheriffs Association. The PSST said the International City/County Management Association and the National Governors Association have been invited to name representatives to the PSST board.
Call to Cyren Call
The PSST selected Cyren Call Communications Corp. as its adviser for negotiations with the eventual commercial license holder of the nationwide 10-megahertz block at 700 MHz.
“Although we have selected a single adviser, I’m hopeful that we will reach out to our applicant pool in the future when opportunities to support the public-safety network become available,” said McEwen “The PSST spent the last several weeks reviewing responses, interviewing prospective candidates and further defining the role of our adviser. The Cyren Call team contains the right mix of skill and experience and we are confident their contributions will make the public-safety network a success.”
The PSST, a nonprofit entity, issued a statement of requirements for bidders seeking the D-block license that includes 10 megahertz of spectrum adjacent to a separate swath of 24 megahertz allocated for public-safety communications.
“Our goal is to have as many well-informed bidders for the D-block spectrum as possible,” McEwen said. “The PSST has been hearing from a number of potential bidders and I now encourage all prospective bidders to contact Cyren Call to begin understanding the requirements of public-safety for this shared network.”
Cyren Call Chairman Morgan O’Brien said understanding the business dynamic of the public-private partnership will be critical as well. “Our first goal will be to create a better understanding and appreciation of the tremendous business opportunity for the commercial sector to partner with public safety. . A healthy and robust auction will result from potential bidders gaining a clearer understanding of what will be entailed in building, operating and maintaining this shared network to standards that will meet public safety’s expressed needs.”
Cyren Call said RCC Consultants Inc., 4DK Technologies Inc. and RACOM Corp. will be supporting it in advising the PSST.
Multimillion-dollar contracts, thousands of devices
The commercial and public-safety broadband licensees will have access to a significant amount spectrum to support new, state-of-the-art wireless broadband devices and applications. As such, the potential exists for contracts in the hundreds of millions of dollars for infrastructure construction and large volumes of wireless devices.
Competition for contracts likely will be fierce, with the field of bidders far more expansive than normal in public-safety wireless market historically dominated by Motorola Inc. Major systems integrators, like Northrop Grumman Corp. and Lockheed Martin Corp., could come into the picture. Northrop Grumman, using technology from IPWireless Inc., last year won a $500 million deal to build a broadband mobile wireless network for New York City.
CDMA technology-and by extension infrastructure vendor Alcatel Lucent-could be major beneficiaries of efforts to build a nationwide commercial/public-safety broadband network that could cost billions of dollars. That is on top of the billions of dollars it could cost to acquire the spectrum at the FCC auction. The agency has set a $1.3 billion reserve price for the 700 MHz commercial/public-safety national license.
Then there will be the challenge of the commercial and public-safety licensees not only reaching a network-sharing agreement, but being able to work together. Indeed, the challenges are seemingly as great as the potential benefits of bringing the country interoperable, broadband-capable public-safety communications otherwise absent in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Hurricane Katrina and other major emergencies.
Robert LeGrande, a public-safety consult who recently left his post as chief technologist for the District of Columbia, said he believed CDMA technology will be a strong candidate for the mixed-use network. While he acknowledged other next-generation wireless technologies are being developed, he warned there are risks in embracing them before they are fully proven. “You really have to be careful about the choice of technology,” said LeGrande.
Meantime, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin last week testified before the House Small Business Committee that 700 MHz rules will benefit small companies and promote wireless broadband deployment in rural areas. But Martin’s main focus at the moment is Verizon Wireless’ legal challenge to the FCC’s 700 MHz open-access rule, which he said he has no plans to revise.
Google Inc., Skype Ltd. and the Public Interest Spectrum Coalition have joined Frontline Wireless L.L.C. in filing to intervene in support of the FCC. MetroPCS Communications Inc. also has jumped into the fray to back Verizon Wireless’ lawsuit.
