Seven entities side with CERCI in opposition to latest PSSA 4.9 GHz proposal

A group of frequency coordinators, critical-infrastructure organizations and a public-safety association this week asked the FCC to reject the most recent Public Safety Spectrum Alliance (PSSA) proposal for 4.9 GHz and appoint the four public-safety frequency coordinators as a single nationwide band manager for the spectrum.

These seven entities made the recommendation in a May 20 letter to the FCC regarding new rules for the 50 MHz of 4.9 GHz spectrum. The PSSA recommended that the FCC select a band manager that would hold an “overlay” nationwide license to the 4.9 GHz spectrum, but with directions to enter into a spectrum-leasing agreement with the FirstNet Authority.

Officials signing the May 20 letter represent the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), the American Petroleum Institute (API), the Enterprise Wireless Alliance (EWA), the Forestry Conservation Communications Association (FCCA), the International Municipal Signal Association (IMSA), the National Sheriffs’ Association (NSA) and the Utilities Technology Council (UTC).

“The Parties recommend designation of the four FCC-certified public safety frequency advisory committees as a single band manager,” according to the May 20 letter. “The Parties continue to believe that would be an eminently viable and expedient approach for implementing the rules adopted by the FCC. We are prepared to work with all parties that endorse those FCC rules and that wish to preserve local public-safety control of this spectrum pursuant to a fair and transparent management structure.”

Three of the four public-safety frequency coordinators—AASHTO, FCCA and IMSA—signed the May 20 letter. The lone public-safety frequency coordinator that did not sign the letter was the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO), which has long served as the coordinator for the majority of public-safety LMR license activity in the U.S., based on information available in the FCC’s online licensing database.

APCO also was the only single entity that would meet all of the criteria that PSSA recommended for a 4.9 GHz band manager—for instance, being both a public-safety frequency coordinator and a standards body.

In its 2023 notice of proposed rulemaking on 4.9 GHz, the FCC expressed the belief that a nationwide band manager would “effectively protect the interests of incumbent public-safety users by establishing consistent, nationwide rules governing use of the band and providing new opportunities for non-public-safety access to the band.”

In the May 20 letter to the FCC, the seven entities stated that the latest PSSA proposal for a 4.9 GHz band manager “turns that FCC decision on its head,” because it would have the FCC direct the band manager to enter into a spectrum-sharing agreement with the FirstNet Authority, which has seen its 700 MHz Band 14 “subsumed into the nationwide commercial AT&T network.” AT&T has a 25-year contract with the FirstNet Authority to build and maintain the nationwide public-safety broadband network (NPSBN).

If the FCC adopts the PSSA proposal, “the result would be the same for the 4.9 GHz band,” according to the seven entities’ May 20 letter to the FCC.

The May 20 letter signed by the seven entities also criticizes an aspect of the latest PSSA proposal that would impact critical-infrastructure entities’ ability to lease 4.9 GHz frequencies.

“Having recommended effectively unlimited commercial use of the band by AT&T customers, it shows unmitigated audacity for the PSSA now to argue the FCC should reverse itself and disallow limited lease arrangements with critical-infrastructure entities that share certain mission-critical responsibilities with public safety, “[t]o avoid overcomplicating the existing spectrum environment,” the seven entities state in the May 20 letter to the FCC.

PSSA proponents have publicly stated multiple times—including during a session at IWCE 2024 in March—that AT&T might not necessarily get access to the 4.9 GHz spectrum, if the FirstNet Authority gained control of the airwaves. These proponents have cited the fact that the FirstNet Authority conducted a procurement to select a contractor to build the NPSBN on 700 MHz spectrum and could do the same with access to the 4.9 GHz spectrum, although this position has not been emphasized in written communications to the FCC.

PSSA originally asked the FCC to award the FirstNet Authority with a nationwide license to the 4.9 GHz band, noting that the FirstNet model already has proven successful in meeting the FCC’s spectrum-utilization requirements—a longtime problem for the 4.9 GHz band dedicated to public safety.

This proposal has been opposed by the Coalition for Emergency Response and Critical Infrastructure (CERCI), which was established in November 2023 and said that the 4.9 GHz spectrum usage should be determined by local jurisdictions on behalf of public safety and critical-infrastructure entities. In April, a CERCI-sponsored legal analysis determined that it would be “unlawful” for the FCC to grant the FirstNet Authority a 4.9 GHz license and for the FirstNet Authority to accept such a license, absent action from Congress.

Seemingly in response to this legal argument, the PSSA recently suggested the “overlay” approach involving the nationwide band manager having a spectrum-sharing agreement with the FirstNet Authority. But even the PSSA alternative would not be legal, according to CERCI and the seven entities signing the May 20 letter.

CERCI has asserted that the FCC would have to restart its 4.9 GHz proceeding to pursue the PSSA alternative proposal, which almost certainly would result in new 4.9 GHz rules being determined by new FCC after the November presidential election.

Although PSSA proposed the alternative notion of an “overlay” license to the band manager, PSSA officials said they would prefer that the FCC directly award the FirstNet Authority a nationwide license to the band. CERCI has stated that such a direct award of a nationwide 4.9 GHz license would be possible only through action by Congress—as was the case in 2012, when Congress pass a law directing the FCC to award the FirstNet Authority with a license to the 700 MHz Band 14 spectrum.

Absent such legislation, the seven entities signing the May 20 letter to the FCC believe giving the FirstNet Authority control of the 4.9 GHz spectrum—directly or indirectly—would be problematic.

“The Parties fully endorse the legal analyses supporting both the CERCI April 15 Letter and the more recent CERCI filing explaining why the PSSA’s suggestion that the FCC is free to do indirectly what it cannot do directly is equally legally infirm,” the May 20 letter states.

“A failure to consider these two filings would produce an outcome antithetical to the FCC’s objectives in this proceeding. It would risk embroiling the 4.9 GHz band in an ongoing legal dispute, thereby perpetuating the underutilization of this spectrum that prompted the FCC to initiate this proceeding.”