FCC in last ditch attempt to save 700MHz public safety plan

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FCC in last ditch attempt to save 700MHz public safety plan

By CAROLINE GABRIEL

Published: 16 September, 2008

READ MORE: Spectrum | Regulation

US regulator the FCC has come up with new proposals for auctioning the D Block in the 700MHz band, which was supposed to be the basis of a national public safety network but failed to meet its reserve price in the recent spectrum auctions. Now the Commission is easing the minimum price and roll-out timescales for the winning operator, which would be able to provide commercial services as well as working with safety agencies to support emergency services.

FCC chairman Kevin Martin has learned some lessons from the failure of the D Block national license to sell in the auction earlier this year. The $1.3bn reserve is now deemed to have been too high, and there were excessive conditions attached to the block. The FCC has even questioned whether it is actually in the public interest to persist with the idea of a public/private partnership between the D Block licensee and a public safety body - or whether to create an emergency services network via some other route, such as buying up Sprint's iDEN system.

It now seems that the FCC will give the D Block plan one more shot, and a better chance of getting off the ground. The spectrum will be split into two portions - a single national license, with a reserve of $750m; and 58 regional licenses. The holder of the national franchise would have to share its spectrum with a public safety organization as well as offering commercial services, as in the original plan. Its period is extended to 15 years.

The regional licenses could open up valuable 700MHz spectrum to a wider range of players, potentially increasing its usability for rural services or new applications - once a key objective of the 700MHz auction as a whole - but they will have to raise, collectively, more money than is paid for the national license, to come into play. However, if the national franchise fails to meet its reserve, the regional structure could be adopted in its place. If half the regional licenses are sold, the auction will be deemed a success even without a national operator, and untaken licenses could be reauctioned at a lower price.

In the scenario that the national system fails, despite breaking the band into largely state-based segments, the FCC is seeking to ensure that the resulting networks use a single technology, to ease roaming and economies of scale. LTE and WiMAX are permitted, and Martin has ruled that, whichever is supported by more operators - in terms of money invested and population covered - will have to be adopted by all licensees in the D Block. Spectrum secured by the 'losing' technology would be reauctioned, with use of the 'winning' network as a proviso.

Satellite operators are lobbying to ensure a former condition, that all networks should support at least one satellite handset, is retained.