"I believe this proposal could offer many public safety benefits," said Chairman Kevin J Martin. "Many national and local public safety organizations have expressed support for a public-private partnership approach for a single, national licensee to achieve an interoperable public safety broadband network in the context of other public safety proposals."
The proposals contained in this item are designed to meet the following public safety objectives:
- opportunities for broadband, national, interoperable use of 700 MHz spectrum;
- new sources of funding for the build-out and operation of the national public safety network;
- economies of scale and scope in production and competition in supply to maximize cost effectiveness;
- efficient spectrum use;
- network robustness and survivability; and
- flexible, modern IP-based wireless system architecture.
Specifically, this item proposes that the Commission
- allocate 12 megahertz of the 700 MHz public safety spectrum from wideband to broadband use;
- assign this spectrum nationwide to a single national public safety broadband licensee;
- permit the national public safety broadband licensee also to operate on a secondary basis on the narrowband public safety spectrum in the 700 MHz band;
- permit the licensee to use its assigned spectrum to provide public safety entities with voluntary access to a public safety broadband service on a fee-for-service basis;
- permit the licensee to provide unconditionally preemptible access to its assigned spectrum to commercial service providers on a secondary basis, through leases or in the form of public/private partnerships; (6) facilitate the shared use of CMRS infrastructure for the efficient provision of public safety broadband service; and
- establish performance requirements for interoperability, build-out, preemption of commercial access, and system robustness.
This Ninth Notice of Proposed Rulemaking seeks comment generally on the above proposals or alternatives, as well as on spectrum leasing and Section 337 issues.