Nextel's 800 MHz Proposal

By the time you read this, the Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) will have received the reply comments, and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will be considering how to rule. There have been several other proposals presented to the FCC on this topic. I'm sure the comments the Commission received will cause much interesting discussions.

The FCC Commissioner, Michael Copps said, "In order to do our job well, we need to know how much spectrum Public Safety needs to protect our citizens." If I remember correctly, APCO has told them several time the amount of spectrum requited for Public Safety to protect our citizens. We need to do it again.

The bright spot of the proposal is the contagious spectrum we would have from 700 MHz and 800 MHz together. However, will that satisfy our needs? Can we afford to make that big of a change? What do we really need? Draw your own conclusions.

700 MHz Plans

In Texas we have six Regional Planning Committees (RPC). Of the six, three have already started the planning process on the use of the spectrum in their area. Two of the RPC's are planning for their first meeting within the next three months. The last RPC is not committed at this time.

Why should the RPC's write a plan for the 700 MHz spectrum? A good question, but a one-word answer, SPECTRUM. Public Safety needs additional spectrum. Today we cannot do most of the activities we would like to do. We do not have the spectrum available to us. The spectrum we have today is over taxed and the bandwidth is inadequate.

What can you do? Get active with your RPC and make strong commitments.


 

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