Ahead of a Wednesday meeting on rules for the 700 MHz D block, sc...

agency. APCO said it continues to support the “basic approach” for the D block originally adopted by the FCC, which is to sell the spectrum so a public-private partnership can build out a national public safety network. “Absent a national network approach, only those agencies with sufficient resources and expertise will be able to deploy broadband, and there is no assurance that systems will be interoperable or be able to take advantage of ‘off-the-shelf’ technologies and standards,” APCO said. In response to one of the questions asked by the FCC in the NOI, APCO said it’s difficult to say how public safety will use wireless broadband once it’s widely available. “In general, public safety is likely to have a substantial need for all types of video applications, both on a day-to-day basis and for major emergencies that require extensive command and control capability,” the group said. “Video will need to be real-time, with mobile (and probably airborne) capability over wide areas. High-speed, reliable access to specialized databases (for building diagrams, criminal records, medical information and images etc.) will also be critical for public safety personnel in the field. Communication will need to be two-way, with comparable speeds for upstream and downstream capability.” The National Emergency Number Association said public safety has an urgent need to modernize its communications systems. “911 and emergency communications and response systems remain largely stuck in the technology and mentality of the 20th Century at a time when 21st Century broadband-enabled technologies are being deployed throughout most other sectors in the U.S.,” NENA said. “The results are responders without numerous forms of available and useful information, emergency communications systems that are often inflexible and insufficiently redundant during major disasters, and overall system inefficiencies.” NENA said a public safety broadband network like one proposed for the 700 MHz D block should be based on a single standard and technology platform that “takes advantage of the significant research and development of the commercial wireless industry” and be supported by a “known and recurring funding source.”