https://urgentcomm.com/wp-content/themes/ucm_child/assets/images/logo/footer-new-logo.png
  • Home
  • News
  • Multimedia
    • Back
    • Multimedia
    • Video
    • Podcasts
    • Galleries
    • IWCE’s Video Showcase
    • IWCE 2022 Winter Showcase
    • IWCE 2023 Pre-event Guide
  • Commentary
    • Back
    • Commentary
    • Urgent Matters
    • View From The Top
    • All Things IWCE
    • Legal Matters
  • Resources
    • Back
    • Resources
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
    • Reprints & Reuse
  • IWCE
    • Back
    • IWCE
    • Conference
    • Special Events
    • Exhibitor Listings
    • Premier Partners
    • Floor Plan
    • Exhibiting Information
    • Register for IWCE
  • About Us
    • Back
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
    • Terms of Service
    • Privacy Statement
    • Cookie Policy
  • Related Sites
    • Back
    • American City & County
    • IWCE
    • Light Reading
    • IOT World Today
    • Mission Critical Technologies
    • TU-Auto
  • In the field
    • Back
    • In the field
    • Broadband Push-to-X
    • Internet of Things
    • Project 25
    • Public-Safety Broadband/FirstNet
    • Virtual/Augmented Reality
    • Land Mobile Radio
    • Long Term Evolution (LTE)
    • Applications
    • Drones/Robots
    • IoT/Smart X
    • Software
    • Subscriber Devices
    • Video
  • Call Center/Command
    • Back
    • Call Center/Command
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • NG911
    • Alerting Systems
    • Analytics
    • Dispatch/Call-taking
    • Incident Command/Situational Awareness
    • Tracking, Monitoring & Control
  • Network Tech
    • Back
    • Network Tech
    • Interoperability
    • LMR 100
    • LMR 200
    • Backhaul
    • Deployables
    • Power
    • Tower & Site
    • Wireless Networks
    • Coverage/Interference
    • Security
    • System Design
    • System Installation
    • System Operation
    • Test & Measurement
  • Operations
    • Back
    • Operations
    • Critical Infrastructure
    • Enterprise
    • Federal Government/Military
    • Public Safety
    • State & Local Government
    • Training
  • Regulations
    • Back
    • Regulations
    • Narrowbanding
    • T-Band
    • Rebanding
    • TV White Spaces
    • None
    • Funding
    • Policy
    • Regional Coordination
    • Standards
  • Organizations
    • Back
    • Organizations
    • AASHTO
    • APCO
    • DHS
    • DMR Association
    • ETA
    • EWA
    • FCC
    • IWCE
    • NASEMSO
    • NATE
    • NXDN Forum
    • NENA
    • NIST/PSCR
    • NPSTC
    • NTIA/FirstNet
    • P25 TIG
    • TETRA + CCA
    • UTC
Urgent Communications
  • NEWSLETTER
  • Home
  • News
  • Multimedia
    • Back
    • Video
    • Podcasts
    • Omdia Crit Comms Circle Podcast
    • Galleries
    • IWCE’s Video Showcase
    • IWCE 2023 Pre-event Guide
    • IWCE 2022 Winter Showcase
  • Commentary
    • Back
    • All Things IWCE
    • Urgent Matters
    • View From The Top
    • Legal Matters
  • Resources
    • Back
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
    • Reprints & Reuse
    • UC eZines
    • Sponsored content
  • IWCE
    • Back
    • Conference
    • Why Attend
    • Exhibitor Listing
    • Floor Plan
    • Exhibiting Information
    • Join the Event Mailing List
  • About Us
    • Back
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
    • Cookie Policy
    • Terms of Service
    • Privacy Statement
  • Related Sites
    • Back
    • American City & County
    • IWCE
    • Light Reading
    • IOT World Today
    • TU-Auto
  • newsletter
  • In the field
    • Back
    • Internet of Things
    • Broadband Push-to-X
    • Project 25
    • Public-Safety Broadband/FirstNet
    • Virtual/Augmented Reality
    • Land Mobile Radio
    • Long Term Evolution (LTE)
    • Applications
    • Drones/Robots
    • IoT/Smart X
    • Software
    • Subscriber Devices
    • Video
  • Call Center/Command
    • Back
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • NG911
    • Alerting Systems
    • Analytics
    • Dispatch/Call-taking
    • Incident Command/Situational Awareness
    • Tracking, Monitoring & Control
  • Network Tech
    • Back
    • Cybersecurity
    • Interoperability
    • LMR 100
    • LMR 200
    • Backhaul
    • Deployables
    • Power
    • Tower & Site
    • Wireless Networks
    • Coverage/Interference
    • Security
    • System Design
    • System Installation
    • System Operation
    • Test & Measurement
  • Operations
    • Back
    • Critical Infrastructure
    • Enterprise
    • Federal Government/Military
    • Public Safety
    • State & Local Government
    • Training
  • Regulations
    • Back
    • Narrowbanding
    • T-Band
    • Rebanding
    • TV White Spaces
    • None
    • Funding
    • Policy
    • Regional Coordination
    • Standards
  • Organizations
    • Back
    • AASHTO
    • APCO
    • DHS
    • DMR Association
    • ETA
    • EWA
    • FCC
    • IWCE
    • NASEMSO
    • NATE
    • NXDN Forum
    • NENA
    • NIST/PSCR
    • NPSTC
    • NTIA/FirstNet
    • P25 TIG
    • TETRA + CCA
    • UTC
acc.com

Policy


Fontes: Hill staffers say battle over D Block could cost public safety funding

Fontes: Hill staffers say battle over D Block could cost public safety funding

Multiple Beltway sources have indicated that federal officials are becoming increasingly frustrated with public safety’s focus on reallocation of the D Block.
  • Written by Urgent Communications Administrator
  • 21st June 2010

Staffers on Capitol Hill have indicated that public-safety organizations’ continued fight for 700 MHz D Block spectrum could result in first responders not only losing the desired extra 10 MHz of airwaves but also any hope of funding needed to build and maintain the much-debated proposed broadband network, according to Brian Fontes, CEO of the National Emergency Number Association (NENA).

Fontes made this statement on Friday afternoon, the day after a House subcommittee conducted a hearing regarding draft legislation proposing $11 billion in funding for public safety to build a nationwide broadband wireless network as proposed by the FCC on 10 MHz of spectrum licensed to the Public Safety Spectrum Trust (PSST). A consensus of public-safety organizations have indicated that the D Block spectrum also is needed to provide first responders with airwaves needed to serve future needs.

“I got off the phone with a key staffer on the Hill,” Fontes said. “Some of the public-safety organizations are still intransient that it’s got to be the D Block. The bottom line of it was, ‘Well, if they are that intransient, then we’ll just walk away from the legislation.’

“That means they will not get the D Block and they will not get funding — the D Block will continue to be auctioned off and they will be no funding. So they will get absolutely nothing out of it.”

Fontes said he has heard similar sentiments from other key staffers on Capitol Hill. Multiple Beltway sources have indicated that federal officials are becoming increasingly frustrated with public safety’s focus on reallocation of the D Block, which is slated to be auctioned to commercial carriers during the first half of next year.

“It sounds pretty clear that, if these folks won’t sit down at the negotiating table and talk to these people [on Capitol Hill], they really don’t care,” Fontes said. “They’re not going to waste a lot of their time when public safety opposes them, which means the commission’s free to auction it off, because it’s under law.”

Many public-safety officials question whether Congress would be willing to provide the funding for the network as proposed by the FCC. Getting the draft legislation through the House and Senate promises to be difficult in a tight budget year, and the legislation only authorizes the proposed funding. Public-safety representatives are wary of such language, as $1.25 billion in 911 funding was authorized by Congress in 2004, but only $43 million was ever appropriated in five years.

Chris Moore, chairman of the Major Cities Chiefs Association (MCC) spectrum working group, said he does not believe Congress would dismiss efforts to provide funding for the proposed public-safety network based on first responders’ efforts to seek D Block reallocation.

“I think Congress understands how important it is, so I don’t think anybody’s going to walk away from the issue — the issue’s too critical,” Moore said. “Everybody acknowledges that we need to have a national public-safety broadband network. There’s just different vision on how to get there. … I think everybody understands that it’s a noble and necessary effort, so it would be terribly disappointing if Congress were to walk away from it.”

While Beltway source indicate that FCC and Capitol Hill officials believe public safety is being stubborn in continuing to fight for the D Block, first-responder representatives have expressed similar opinions about federal organizations. Several public-safety official have expressed dismay that no public-safety practitioners were part of a recent briefing of Capitol Hill staffers on the subject and that only one public-safety practitioner — Charles Dowd, deputy chief in the New York Police Department — was among the eight panelists at the House subcommittee hearing last week.

“We have gone above and beyond the call of duty to explain our position and to justify our position,” San Jose (Calif.) Police Chief Robert Davis said during a press teleconference after Thursday’s hearing. “They are not on our frequency; they are not listening. Public safety is telling [federal officials] very loudly and very clearly …, ‘This is what we need.’ If they tell us that we’re wrong or that they have other suggestions, what they’re telling us is that they’re not listening.

Tags: content Policy

Most Recent


  • Autonomous-vehicle consequences could include more traffic
    Most discussions about driverless, autonomous cars, have led to claims that they will help reduce congestion. Not so, says the RAC Foundation. It cites a UK government report which believes the opposite is true. Claiming that driverless cars could increase congestion by 85% by 2060. Presently, it’s thought that drivers lose more than 80 hours […]
  • SES: JP Hemingway on satellites' role in the digital divide, D2D and disasters
    WASHINGTON – At last week’s Satellite 2023 show, one of the topics on everyone’s mind was the future of direct-to-device (D2D) communications. But at least one global satellite operator, SES, is taking a wait-and-see approach. “We’re watching that space really carefully. We’re not active in it today,” said SES Chief Strategy Officer JP Hemingway in a […]
  • House members introduce $15 billion NG911 funding bill
    Key U.S. House members introduced bipartisan legislation that would provide $15 billion in federal funding to support 911 centers nationwide as they make the transition from legacy technology to an IP-based next-generation 911 (NG911) platform. Standalone legislation that had not been assigned a bill number as of Friday night, the “Next Generation 9-1-1 Act of […]
  • ADRF: Sun Kim discusses company's new hybrid in-building wireless solution
      Sun Kim, ADRF’s director of product engineering, talks about the FiRe-78-8-U, the company’s channelized 700/800 MHz repeater with a built-in and fiber DAS head end in a single unit. Each unit has been certified as meeting the UL 2524, second edition, standard and supports as many as 8 remote units. IWCE attendees can learn […]

Leave a comment Cancel reply

To leave a comment login with your Urgent Comms account:

Log in with your Urgent Comms account

Or alternatively provide your name, email address below:

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Content

  • New Orleans-area 911 center inks multiyear APEX deal with Carbyne to replace call-handling system
  • Fontes: Hill staffers say battle over D Block could cost public safety funding
    Newscan: Feds recover millions from pipeline ransom hackers, hint at U.S. Internet tactic
  • Cyber is the new Cold War, and AI is the arms race
  • Private wireless networks in the US start going public

Commentary


Updated: How ‘sidelink’ peer-to-peer communications can enhance public-safety operations

  • 1
27th February 2023

NG911 needed to secure our communities and nation

24th February 2023

How 5G is making cities safer, smarter, and more efficient

26th January 2023
view all

Events


UC Ezines


IWCE 2019 Wrap Up

13th May 2019
view all

Twitter


UrgentComm

Gallery: IWCE 2023 kicks off in Las Vegas dlvr.it/SlZlk4

28th March 2023
UrgentComm

AT&T claims LTE coverage edge, FirstNet build more than 99% done dlvr.it/SlXZfr

27th March 2023
UrgentComm

Verizon Frontline supports U.S. Forest Service efforts against wildfires dlvr.it/SlX1g3

27th March 2023
UrgentComm

Autonomous-vehicle consequences could include more traffic dlvr.it/SlWr67

27th March 2023
UrgentComm

Tesla Model 3 hacked in less than 2 minutes at Pwn2Own contest dlvr.it/SlVJg9

26th March 2023
UrgentComm

SES: JP Hemingway on satellites’ role in the digital divide, D2D and disasters dlvr.it/SlTL4h

25th March 2023
UrgentComm

House members introduce $15 billion NG911 funding bill dlvr.it/SlS0Lr

25th March 2023
UrgentComm

ADRF: Sun Kim discusses company’s new hybrid in-building wireless solution dlvr.it/SlRtSQ

25th March 2023

Newsletter

Sign up for UrgentComm’s newsletters to receive regular news and information updates about Communications and Technology.

Expert Commentary

Learn from experts about the latest technology in automation, machine-learning, big data and cybersecurity.

Business Media

Find the latest videos and media from the market leaders.

Media Kit and Advertising

Want to reach our digital and print audiences? Learn more here.

DISCOVER MORE FROM INFORMA TECH

  • American City & County
  • IWCE
  • Light Reading
  • IOT World Today
  • Mission Critical Technologies
  • TU-Auto

WORKING WITH US

  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Events
  • Careers

FOLLOW Urgent Comms ON SOCIAL

  • Privacy
  • CCPA: “Do Not Sell My Data”
  • Cookie Policy
  • Terms
Copyright © 2023 Informa PLC. Informa PLC is registered in England and Wales with company number 8860726 whose registered and Head office is 5 Howick Place, London, SW1P 1WG.