FCC to Congress: Pony up for mobile public safety network

We live in a new century, and it is finally occurring to our government leaders that we need a state-of-the-art communications system to match the demands placed on the nation's public safety officials.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski last week stepped up to the plate, saying he wants Congress to come up with $16 billion to $18 billion to pay for the construction and maintenance of a nationwide mobile broadband network for emergency response agencies, including police and fire departments.

Sounds like a big lift and a lot of money in tough budgetary times, but the plan is to give grants to states and communities over 10 years to get an interoperable public safety network built.

The FCC maintains that the mobile carriers that paid billions of dollars for spectrum in the 700MHz band should be required to share their spectrum with public safety agencies. Sounds reasonable and prudent, but it is unclear whether the major carriers will want to go along without a mandate from the government.

Genachowski said he is convinced the private sector will not act on its own or spend the money needed to build a nationwide, state-of-the-art, interoperable broadband network for public safety agencies.

The FCC chairman said that with access to other spectrum, the plan would give public safety agencies a redundant and reliable network.

To get more details on the FCC plan:
- check out this Computerworld article

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