Agencies in Close Alignment on Regulatory Strategy & LTE Technology Choice for D Block Interoperability

A few months ago, Steve Zipperstein (pictured) of Verizon Wireless spoke in Washington DC on canceling the proposed auction for the D-block and combining it with the adjacent 10 MHz already licensed to the Public Safety Spectrum Trust (PSST). The presentation called for allocating the D-Block to First Responders to facilitate the deployment of an interoperable network. Verizon also offered up its backhaul and back-end systems to support a public safety network using the spectrum. Prior to the Verizon speech, AT&T Wireless had already been floating the same idea.

In May, a group of eight public safety organizations got together and endorsed a similar plan. More recently APCO and NENA issued a joint release citing LTE as their recommended technology choice for D-block networks.

Andrew Seybold wrote in a recent article that “for the first time, the public safety community could have the upper hand.” Clearly getting to this position was the result of hard work and consensus by numerous agencies and organizations. Andy’s piece offers an in-depth analysis of where things stand today and how we got here.

Read the Seybold article here>>

Should the FCC Scrap the D-Block Auction Process?

A major carrier is asking the FCC and Congress not to re-auction the 700 MHz D-Block and instead directly allocate it to public safety agencies.

Steve Zipperstein (pictured) of Verizon Wireless spoke in Washington DC on allocating the D-Block to First Responders to deploy an interoperable network. Mr. Zipperstein, Vice President for Legal and External Affairs and Verizon’s General Counsel, called on the FCC to avoid requiring deployment of a specific technology, but instead to create “a national technical framework” that would create an interoperable network based on an open IP backbone.

Giving the spectrum directly to public safety agencies free of charge would be appealing to these agencies, and it also eliminates the prospect of a commercial carrier obtaining spectrum and creating a potential nationwide competitor to Verizon (and AT&T).

This somewhat self-serving interest notwithstanding, the plan would ultimately hand 700 MHz to First Responders - which isn’t a bad idea in itself.

To read more on Verizon's request, click here.