Major Public Safety Groups Call for Closer Look at Cyren Call’s Proposal
A coalition of APCO and the major law enforcement and firefighter organizations said Fri. that giving public safety another 30 MHz of broadcast spectrum at 700 MHz, as proposed by Morgan O'Brien’s company Cyren Call, is worthy of consideration by Congress. But the group stopped short of endorsing the Cyren Call plan.
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One public safety source said significant uncertainty remains about the Cyren Call plan, proposed last month by O'Brien, a co-founder of Nextel. “We still really aren’t expressing an opinion,” the source said: “People are still trying to figure it out. It’s hard to put aside the political problems it would face, but once you overcome that, people start to say this is worth looking at. You have to focus on what this would mean for public safety. Other than it’s clearly good to get more spectrum, is this particular way of doing it good or bad? That’s something that people haven’t figured out yet.”
The group, which includes the International Assn. of Chiefs of Police, the National Sheriffs’ Assn., the International Assn. of Fire Chiefs, the Major Cities Chiefs Assn., and the Major County Sheriffs’ Assn., hadn’t previously taken a stand on the Cyren Call proposal.
The plan is controversial since it would make use of spectrum set to be auctioned by the FCC in 2008 for commercial uses. Telecom and high-tech groups last year fought hard to win approval for legislation establishing a hard date for the DTV transition and setting up the auction. A source noted O'Brien hadn’t been active in that fight.
“It is important to note that our organizations have not endorsed this proposal,” said the letter to Senate Commerce Committee Chmn. Stevens (R-Alaska): “We will be conducting a thorough review of the many complex and potentially controversial elements in this plan and its impact on the public safety community before taking a position. However, we do believe that the concept of reallocating the 30 MHz of spectrum in the 700 MHz band in a manner that would promote interoperable, public safety broadband communications is worthy of public discussion.”
The groups said they recognize the Cyren Call proposal “appears to be inconsistent with Congressionally mandated spectrum auctions.” The plan has been controversial on Capitol Hill. House Telecom Subcommittee Chmn. Upton (R-Mich.) warned that the proposal “threatens to undermine” the DTV bill, since it presupposes auction proceeds going to the Treasury. “Unquestionably, that raises a significant hurdle for the Cyren Call proposal or any similar effort,” the letter said. “Nevertheless, the potential benefits for public safety are substantial, and constructive public discussion would be worthwhile. Of course, such a public discussion must not in any way delay the ongoing planning, funding, or deployment of critical communications systems in the 24 MHz already allocated for public safety.”
O'Brien has been promoting the plan vigorously. He plans a major speech at the IWCE Expo in Las Vegas this week. Cyren Call has been reaching out in small ways as well -- for example, sponsoring a table at a dinner last week honoring former FCC Office of Engineering & Technology Chief Dale Hatfield.