Cyren Call searches for cover
Cyren Call Communications officials continue to travel the country explaining the company’s idea for a public-private partnership in the 700 MHz band, but it remains questionable whether the FCC will open a proceeding to solicit public comment.
Headed by Nextel Communications co-founder and former chairman Morgan O’Brien, Cyren Call this spring proposed that half of the 60 MHz in the 700 MHz band scheduled to be auctioned in 2008 should be licensed in trust to public safety. The public-safety trust then would contract with commercial operators to build public-safety-grade networks nationwide that also could be used to offer commercial services.
Cyren Call has asked the FCC to open a proceeding to let the proposal be debated publicly, but company officials have acknowledged that the commission needs direction from key members of Congress to do so. Without such a blessing, it would be unlikely the FCC would conduct a proceeding regarding a proposal that opposes the budgetary plans Capitol Hill has for the spectrum.
In an attempt to gain support for such action, the Michigan Association of Chiefs of Police (MACP) last month passed a resolution urging Congress and the FCC to create a public-comment period for the Cyren Call proposal.
“All we’re asking for is that Congress and the FCC give them (Cyren Call officials) a chance to present their proposal at a federal level,” MACP Executive Director Tom Hendricksen said. “We’re looking for a conversation on it at the federal level, before they auction the spectrum.”
John Melcher, Cyren Call’s executive president of external affairs, said he believes more organizations will express similar opinions during the month of August.
“We’ve really gotten some additional traction that will become apparent in the next two weeks,” Melcher said in late July. “It’s very significant … not just from public safety but a cross section of people, including elected officials.”
But Beltway sources indicate that getting that group of elected officials to include members of Congress apparently will be a significant challenge, as Capitol Hill is focused on revamping the nation’s telecom laws to let incumbent telcos enter the video market quickly, amid a heated debate regarding net neutrality.
“[The Cyren Call proposal] is not even under consideration at this time,” said Yucel Ors, legislative director for the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials. “I haven’t had any inquiries from congressional staff about it.”
Changing that circumstance could be difficult. In an effort to get the telecom bills passed, incumbent carriers are expected to use their considerable lobbying influence during the months preceding November elections. These same companies are members of CTIA — a trade association that represents commercial wireless carriers that want to bid on the 700 MHz spectrum at auction — which joined influential Congressman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) in opposing the Cyren Call proposal within hours of its release.
Time also is working against Cyren Call, because current law and the national budget plan require the 700 MHz auction to begin in less than 18 months. Bruce Cox, Cyren Call’s vice president of government affairs, said Cyren Call officials want to see the FCC begin the inquiry by the end of the fall.
“If we don’t have this debate, what an opportunity we will have missed to correct a problem for public safety,” Cox said.
