Lawmakers weigh next move on public-safety spectrum

Eight years after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks exposed an urgent need for an interoperable nationwide communications network for police, fire and rescue squads, Congress and the FCC are headed back to the drawing board.

Their objective is a wireless broadband system that would enable first responders to communicate across jurisdictions and facilitate swift downloads of video and other critical information during emergencies.

A year ago, the FCC failed to attract a winning bidder willing to finance construction of the network in exchange for commercial use of the spectrum. As a result, the frequencies the FCC couldn't sell, known as the D-block, remained fallow through the transition to the Obama administration.

"This is certainly the unfinished business from 9/11 and [Hurricane] Katrina, and it's an urgent matter," House Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman said during a hearing today of his panel's Communications Subcommittee.

Communications Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher, D-Va., outlined four main approaches:

Option One: Give the D-block to the public safety community, which would combine it with spectrum already under its control. Localities would lease the frequencies to commercial entities, using the revenue to build the new network. Boucher questioned whether sufficient money could be raised through such leases.

Option Two: Hold another auction of the D-block, but only for commercial purposes, and use the proceeds to help finance construction of an interoperable network utilizing frequencies operated by public safety groups. It is doubtful the auction would cover the build-out costs and unclear where the remaining money would come from, Boucher warned.

Option Three: Auction the D-block to a commercial carrier that would enter in a public-private partnership to create a new safety network. To ensure a successful auction, the FCC would need to address the concerns of commercial providers that led to the 2008 failure, Boucher said.

Option Four: Combine the 10 megahertz in the D-block with the 10 MHz controlled by the public-safety community, and auction off the entire amount for use under a public-private partnership.

Boucher said he is not convinced any of them would raise the estimated $10 billion to $40 billion needed to build the state-of-the-art network. "At the end of the day we're going to have to find some sort of general fund revenues to finance this," he suggested.

"The riskiest option going forward would be for the FCC to try another conditioned auction," insisted Communications Subcommittee ranking member Cliff Stearns, R-Fla., referring to regulatory requirements that dissuaded telecom carriers from participating in the original effort to sell the D-block.

The agency plans to develop viable options no later than February for another auction of the D-block. "I want to make sure that we get it right, I don't want to rush into a failed auction," FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski told the panel during an oversight hearing last week.