APCO Said Ready to Sever Ties with Current PSST
APCO is alerting the FCC that it is ready to sever ties with the Public Safety Spectrum Trust, saying so in meetings with commissioners and their staffs, we have learned. Top officials from APCO and the PSST are to testify Wednesday at the FCC en banc on the future of the D-block at the Brooklyn Borough Hall in New York City.
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APCO has reported on meetings at the FCC in recent weeks in ex partes at the FCC. One agency official said APCO’s message was that the group is ready to select a new PSST if commissioners wish to sever ties with the current PSST. The official said the message was more direct than those given in APCO and National Emergency Number Association messages lat month in filings on the D-block’s future. APCO said in a previous filing the PSST’s broad structure is fundamentally flawed, putting too much power in too few hands (CD June 24 p1).
The dispute between the PSST and the public safety groups puts policymakers in a tough situation, an agency source said Monday. “How can we ever achieve interoperability when there seems to be so much squabbling going on within the expert groups?” the official asked.
Harlin McEwen, chairman of the PSST, and Robert Gurss, longtime counsel to APCO, are to testify separately Wednesday at the FCC en banc. McEwen, a former police chief, and state law enforcement and FBI official, has been a close ally of Gurss on public safety communications issues. But that relationship has been under pressure following the failure of the first D-block auction, which attracted a single bidder at well below the minimum reserve price.
“I am certainly aware that there are some differences of opinion between the leadership of APCO and NENA and the majority of the members of the PSST Board,” McEwen said Monday. “It is my intention to make every effort to try to address the concerns that have been raised in an effort to bring APCO and NENA more closely in alignment with the rest of the PSST Board and to create an atmosphere that will encourage them to be much more supportive of the Public Safety Spectrum Trust.”
One public safety source said APCO and NENA filings made clear their desire to see the PSST reconstituted so members of the PSST board have more network management and possibly business expertise. Both groups also made clear that PSST decision-making must be more open and transparent.
The equivalent of a “divorce” is possible, the source said. “If the situation can’t be improved, I'm not sure if the current process is going to remain viable or appropriate,” the source said. “It’s not a total rejection or criticism of the PSST, but there are opportunities to improve, so let’s improve.” The source added, “There are just some fundamental differences that have emerged [between the PSST and the public safety groups], not out of any ill intent.”