Harris County Gets STA to Continue Work on First Responder Network
Harris County, Texas, got the first grant of Special Temporary Authority from the FCC Public Safety Bureau, under its new guidelines, to build an early first responder network in the 700 MHz, ahead of the national FirstNet. Harris County, which is one of only two local systems close to a launch, received the STA in an order handed down Friday by bureau Chief David Turetsky.
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Harris County, which includes Houston and the Houston Ship Channel, is unique among local governments that planned to build an early network since it got a port security grant from the federal government. The order extends Harris County’s existing waiver for 180 days. Without further action, the waiver was set to expire Sunday. The order ticks off all of the requirements a system has to meet for an STA under the July order (CD July 31 Special Bulletin) and explains how Harris County had met each of them. There was no word by our deadline on whether the bureau would also approve an STA application from Charlotte, N.C., the other local network nearing completion. The city’s waiver also was set to expire Sunday. Charlotte originally had hoped to have the network in place by the start of this week’s Democratic National Convention.
"We find that Texas’s request adequately addresses each public interest consideration identified by the Commission and overall presents a compelling basis for relief consistent with the terms of the STA Order,” the order said (http://xrl.us/bnnwbu). For example, the July order requires “significant deployment” prior to the enactment of the law creating FirstNet Feb. 22. “Texas identifies a number of tasks it had undertaken or completed prior to that date to deploy its network, including ‘[s]ystem design and planning,’ ‘[g]rant funding applications and planning,’ ‘[n]etwork construction,’ and ‘[c]ontracts,'” the order said. “In addition, Texas states that the Harris County network had ’six eNodeBs fully operational’ as of” Feb. 22.
The order also requires the bureau to examine whether an STA applicant can provide timely service. “Texas explains that Harris County has ‘aggressively implemented the final deployment work items needed to initiate live public safety operation’ with the expectation of entering service on the first seven of its fourteen sites ‘within the near term,'” the order said. Last week, “Texas filed an amended version of its application to explain that $2.0 million in previously suspended Department of Homeland Security Port Security Grant funding has been released to Harris County, enabling them ’to complete all remaining installation and preparation tasks for the full fourteen-site network,'” the order said. “Texas expects ’to integrate the remaining seven sites’ into its network ‘on or near September 15.'"
Harris County also demonstrated the network meets a “specific public safety need” and is in compliance with minimum technical standards, consistent with the July order, the bureau said.