Industry Asks FCC to Require More Satellite 700 MHz Devices
The FCC should require more than one public-safety device for use in the 700 MHz D-block, the satellite industry told the FCC in comments filed this week. The FCC is re- examining rules on the 700 MHz D-block, which failed to sell at auction. “Only by incorporating satellite capability into many public safety user devices will public safety have the coverage and reliability that is critical to the success and wide-spread utilization of this new network,” Mobile Satellite Ventures said.
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All 700 MHz public-safety devices should be satellite capable, said the Rural Telecommunications Alliance. “Rural areas have historically been at a disadvantage when it comes to the penetration of communications technology,” the alliance said. “If the single most important function of the public safety network is to provide reliable communications during times of emergency, ensuring that all public safety devices are capable of satellite communication is an objective worth pursuing.”
At least one model of each device type, such as a laptop card or PDA, and half of all models, should have a dual-mode satellite-terrestrial chip, MSV said. All devices should be available within five years of the D-block license being awarded, MSV said. The Satellite Industry Association was less ambitious, asking that 20 percent of 700 MHz public safety devices be satellite capable.
Mandating more satellite-capable devices would avoid coverage gaps that could arise with if the agency implements “the substantially relaxed coverage targets now proposed,” MSV said. Using those targets “could result in a ‘nationwide’ public safety network that actually serves only a small fraction of the nation’s land area and leaves thousands of first responders without any access to the terrestrial network,” MSV warned. MSV and SIA had asked the FCC to allow the eventual D-block licensee to count the availability of satellite-capable devices in its build-out criteria, a suggestion the agency rejected. The association took another crack at it: “SIA also supports the Commission’s grant of additional flexibility to a D block licensee to use satellite facilities in meeting certain network resiliency and coverage requirements.”