Policy & Law Commentary

White spaces promise to provide useful test bed

With the FCC’s approval of unlicensed use of television white spaces, where signals can travel significant distances, there is the possibility of making wide-area networking much more affordable.

Grant announcements disappoint many 700 MHz waiver jurisdictions

For first responders, the good news was that more than 80% of the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) grant money awarded yesterday went to public-safety entities. The bad news was that only two jurisdictions — the Los Angeles Regional Interoperable Communications Systems Authority ($154.6 million) and Adam County, Colo. ($12.1 million) — received funding.

Business realities of roaming make impression at hearing

What was especially revealing during today’s hearing was that commercial carriers this week apparently said during a forum that public safety roaming onto their networks with the kind of access they would need does not equate into a workable business model for them.

Funding public-safety broadband

Public safety’s priority has to be on getting the spectrum allocated to first responders. Once that’s accomplished, it can turn its attention to the funding side of the equation.

When it comes to broadband grants, familiarity breeds awards

The U.S. government has issued nearly all of the $7.2 billion earmarked for rural broadband loans and grants. And it appears most of the winners are individual companies rather than communities and co-ops.

The elephant in the narrowbanding room

Huge entities like New York City would have to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to meet the narrowbanding mandate. This reality is particularly frustrating, because New York City officials would rather direct such substantial financial and manpower resources to the buildout of a proposed broadband network.

Sometimes you don’t know whether to laugh or cry

A report released last month by Sens. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) identified the 100 stimulus projects that they believe to be the biggest wastes of taxpayer money. I skimmed through the report, and it is difficult to take issue with their findings.

Buzzing in your ears

Sometimes buzz covers up other important stories. One such story concerns the upcoming changes by insurance company FM Global to the intrinsically safe (IS) standard for land-mobile radios. Those guidelines include a reduction of maximum power output for IS units from 3 watts to 0.5 watts for Class 1, Division 1 devices as of Jan. 1, 2012.

D Block reallocation, broadband network funding are conjoined issues

Public-safety leaders have been focused on — obsessed with — the D Block for the past nine months or so. That’s understandable. They’re only going to get one time at bat and they need to hit a home run. Strike out and the game is over — forever. But they’re not anywhere near as focused on the next giant piece of this puzzle, which is how to fund the network’s buildout and its continued operation.

D Block reallocation makes long-term sense

Throughout the ongoing debate regarding the future use of the 700 MHz D Block, most of the discussion has tried to weigh the needs of first responders against those of the burgeoning commercial wireless data market, based on their needs for the next five to 10 years.

White spaces promise to provide useful test bed

Grant announcements disappoint many 700 MHz waiver jurisdictions

Business realities of roaming make impression at hearing

Funding public-safety broadband

When it comes to broadband grants, familiarity breeds awards

The elephant in the narrowbanding room

Sometimes you don’t know whether to laugh or cry

Buzzing in your ears

D Block reallocation, broadband network funding are conjoined issues

D Block reallocation makes long-term sense

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IWCE 2019 Wrap Up