Howard Buskirk

The FCC voted Wed. to seek comment on bids to provide public safety with wireless broadband at 700 MHz, including a proposal to use 12 MHz of 24 MHz set aside for public safety after the DTV transition to launch a national safety broadband network and related issues.

NPSTC generally backed a proposal to give public safety 30 MHz of 700-Mhz band spectrum for a nationwide interoperable public safety broadband network. In a filing at the FCC, the group didn’t specifically endorse Cyren Call’s proposal, but that’s the only one calling for creation of a 30 MHz public safety broadband trust, a source said. “It is endorsing the public safety broadband concept that Cyren Call has proposed,” the source said: “You can’t talk about this without talking about Cyren Call’s proposal.” NPSTC (National Public Safety Telecom Council) decided at a recent N.Y. meeting to support reallocating the spectrum, joining other safety bodies backing an allocation of more 700-MHz spectrum after the DTV shift. “The nation has a unique opportunity to take advantage of the clearance of a nationwide block of 30 MHz of contiguous frequencies in the 700-MHz spectrum band that is adjacent to spectrum currently allocated to public safety and that would be ideal for the creation of a broadband nationwide network,” NPSTC said. In an unrelated matter, NPSTC backed alternate recommendations to the common interoperability radio channel naming scheme developed by the FCC, subject of a Feb. meeting in Fla. hosted by NPSTC. “Lack of a common naming standard and the lack of immediate communications capability is a significant impediment to public safety’s ability to respond to multi- agency incidents, and that a common nomenclature will make a tangible difference in public safety interoperability,” the group said.

The FCC should change its stance and declare that when TV “white spaces” are available, they will be offered for purely unlicensed use and not sold in a Commission spectrum auction, the Media Access Project, New America Foundation and allies said. The Champaign Urbana Wireless Network also joined a petition for reconsideration filed at the FCC.

CenturyTel said Mon. it agreed to acquire Madison River Communications in a deal valued at $830 million. Glen Post, CEO of CenturyTel, said on a conference call that regulatory issues, including uncertainty over USF and intercarrier compensation reform, figured in the company’s evaluation of the merger, but there’s little risk of Madison River’s revenue dropping because of rule changes. “Nothing major has changed in the regulatory arena,” Post said in response to an analyst’s question: “We still believe that we'll see progress in the next 18 months to eliminate some of the regulatory uncertainty.”

Comr. Copps said Fri. negotiations should continue on the AT&T-BellSouth merger with or without participation by Comr. McDowell, who’s deciding whether he can vote on the merger. “I have never said that the merger discussions were at an impasse,” Copps said as he left a Practising Law Institute event.

Motorola wants the 800 MHz reconfiguration process itself retuned so public safety radios can be fixed even before all network retuning decisions are made. That was the message from Bill Anaya, Motorola vp govt. relations, during a Thurs. wireless panel at the Practising Law Institute. Motorola has said rebanding will require replacement or retuning or 1.2 million public safety radios, a process not yet begun. Anaya called for a “parallel track” for addressing radios.

The Commerce Dept. Spectrum Advisory Committee is making its first priority a recommendation on the long-awaited spectrum testbed, part of the band to be put aside for testing spectrum sharing. The committee also is slated to study the Wireless Accelerated Responder Network (WARN) in D.C. and similar systems with a view toward a national system.

Don’t burden the Emergency Alert System (EAS) with overly prescriptive, one-size-fits-all solutions, wireless firms told the FCC Commercial Mobile Service Alert Advisory Committee at its inaugural meeting Tues. Carrier sources said afterwards they have few fears because the WARN Act, which created the committee, makes mobile alerts voluntary and carriers can opt out if solutions aren’t practical.

FCC Comr. McDowell privately implored AT&T, as well as Comr. Copps and Adelstein, on Fri. to resume talks on the AT&T-BellSouth merger, sources said Mon. McDowell didn’t discuss the substance of the proceeding during those talks, but indicated he was concerned that negotiations had broken down as the parties awaited the decision that McDowell could ethically take part, which came down late Fri. (CD Dec 11 p1).

ANNAPOLIS -- DoD hasn’t committed to dynamic frequency selection (DFS) as a major solution to its spectrum crunch, an official said Fri. after the department’s annual Spectrum Summit here. But other speakers at the summit said DFS will have huge importance over time in ways such as allowing companies to offer services in the TV white spaces. One speaker called a recent test of a sophisticated form of DFS by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and Shared Spectrum Co. the spectrum equivalent of the Wright Brothers’ first flight.