PSST Chairman Says Future of 700 MHz D Block Remains Uncertain

Cyren Call, a start-up led by Nextel founder Morgan O'Brien, announced in March that it would no longer be adviser to the trust. The company pointed to the absence of a source of payment, turmoil in the financial markets and a “hiatus” at the FCC in setting up a 700 MHz D-block auction.

“We had advice from a team of people who were not then connected to the industry, but who had experience in commercial networks that we didn’t have,” McEwen said of Cyren Call. “That was very helpful to us. On the other hand, it also served as a period of time as a lightning rod for those who were critical of that relationship.”

Cyren Call has been largely dormant in recent months. “Cyren Call Communications has suspended some of its activities at least until federal policy decisions have been made regarding the creation of a nationwide wireless broadband network for public safety,” the company said in a written statement Wednesday. “We believe our nation must remain committed to providing state-of-the-art wireless broadband communications for our first responders, but the process is likely to take some time.”

McEwen advised NPSTC members not to worry about the details in the FCC’s May 2008 proposal for revised rules for an auction. “It was full of all sorts of things,” McEwen said. “Most people who are not familiar with the FCC process don’t understand that a notice of proposed rulemaking is just that. It’s a notice of thoughts … [The FCC] put a whole lot of things into that notice.” Some of the proposals from his point of view were “shocking,” McEwen said. “They were not very practical.”

FCC work on the proposal has been stalled since former Chairman Kevin Martin indicated he would not schedule an expected vote on a D-block auction at the agency’s December meeting, McEwen said. “I would suggest to you that we don’t have any sense of the third further notice, where that might go.”

McEwen also said recent meetings of public safety officials on a revised plan for the spectrum, including one at APCO in late May (CD June 1 p1), have proven helpful. “I think we really did come to further consensus,” he said. Four major metropolitan areas, starting with Boston in December, and New York City this week, have proposed waivers so they can make early use of the 700 MHz spectrum that would be part of a national network. McEwen predicted that first responders in the Washington, D.C., region will also file a waiver application. “They have a temporary license, which is in the narrowband spectrum, and they need to get out of there because Prince George’s County, Maryland, is building a new narrow-band 700 MHz system that will use that spectrum,” he said. “They're looking to migrate over to our broadband spectrum.”

Meanwhile, David Boyd, director of the Command, Control and Interoperability Division of the Department of Homeland Security’s Science and Technology Directorate, said DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano was briefed Monday on communications interoperability issues. “I spent some time Monday at the DHS headquarters and we talked about interoperability and how network activities might be able support this,” Boyd told NPSTC. “We talked through interoperability. We talked through how these things might be addressed nationally.”

Boyd said Napolitano has made clear that local governments, not the federal government, must be the driver. Her focus is “local, tribal, state, federal” in that order, he said. “I think that’s a reflection of how seriously she takes the responsibility to support the localities and states.”