Barnett Still ‘Hopeful’ Congress Will Approve Public Safety Spectrum Bill
PHILADELPHIA -- FCC Public Safety Bureau Chief Jamie Barnett said he remains ‘hopeful and positive’ about the prospects Congress will approve legislation authorizing the FCC to conduct voluntary incentive auctions and dedicating funds to a national wireless broadband network for public safety. Barnett made a special appearance at an Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials general business meeting.
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"I just think the possibility of $25 billion that can be applied to debt and to a public safety network is just something that can’t be passed up,” Barnett said in an interview. “I hope that’s the case. I understand that maybe there are reasons it didn’t come to pass in August, but I still think there’s another shot, another at bat. I certainly hope so.” The 10-year anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks should help build momentum, Barnett said. “It’s on my mind,” he said. “I think everybody sees the 10-year anniversary as significant. It’s why the FCC has been focused on the interoperability issue and will continue to be."
"We are truly on the verge of a victory few predicted,” APCO outgoing President Bill Carrow said Tuesday, commenting on public safety legislation and the group’s pursuit of the 700 MHz D-block. “Make your calls, write letters, send emails to key legislators.”
FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski is scheduled to address APCO during a closing session Wednesday.
Roberto Mussenden, attorney advisor in the Public Safety Bureau, spoke to APCO attendees about the pending Jan. 1, 2013, narrow-banding deadline. Progress has been made, but about 63,000 call signs still must be addressed by licensees, Mussenden said. “About a year ago, the bureau took a look at its licensing database to see where the pubic safety community stood regarding the 2013 deadline,” Mussenden said. “It was Roy Scheider in Jaws moment, as in, we're going to need a bigger boat.” The FCC found that 72 percent of 109,000 public safety pooled calls weren’t lined up to being converted to narrowbanding, he said. The FCC decided to send a simple message, he said: “The narrowbanding deadline is approaching. It is mandatory. It applies to you.” The number now is closer to 58 percent, he said. “A great deal of work has been done, but there’s a lot to do, about 63,000 call signs to do,” he said.
Mussenden said other agencies in addition to public safety often are not in compliance with the narrow-banding deadline. He cited school buses, state and local departments of transportation and local water departments as examples of licensees also subject to the requirement. The FCC has been trying to get the word out, he said. “We sent staff to the four corners of this country to talk to audiences of all sizes about what narrowbanding is and what licensees need to do,” he said.
Jeff Goldthorp, a bureau official, asked APCO members to submit advice on collecting more information from VoIP providers and ISPs, a subject of a rulemaking and notice of inquiry by the FCC. As VoIP becomes more important, more people will be using broadband to contact 911, he said.
"The networks are changing so quickly under our feet that we almost had the same problem we had in 2004 where we weren’t getting data on wireless networks and 911 networks,” Goldthorp said. “Now we don’t get any data on Internet networks. We don’t get data on ISPs. We don’t get data on VoIP providers.” The FCC doesn’t tell providers how to run their networks, he said. “We do tell them we insist on some transparency in how their networks are performing from a reliability perspective."
In asking questions about the resiliency of networks, the FCC realizes that backup power is an important issue in times of disaster. “Backup power in only part of the issue,” Goldthorp said. “You have to deal with backhaul. It’s more than just power. You have to deal with accessibility. You have to deal with just a whole range of issues.” Another concern raised by the FCC is what does “carrier class” network mean in a broadband age, Goldthorp said. “Maybe it means something else,” he said. “It’s also true that the architecture of the network is more resilient. You have IP-based architectures that are self-hearing. … Maybe nodes of the network don’t have to be as reliable."
Jennifer Manner, deputy bureau chief, discussed the FCC’s ongoing examination of connectivity costs of a new-generation 911 network. The FCC is focusing only on the cost of infrastructure from the outside wall of the 911 call center to the carrier network, she said. “It’s only one step in a cost model, but it’s the part that we've been focused on,” Manner said. “Staff is working toward a white paper, which will release a cost model based on just connectivity.”