Disputes weigh on proposed public safety network

There's much disagreement over how an interoperable broadband wireless network for emergency workers should be developed. At issue is the so-called D Block, a segment of the 700 megahertz band of airwaves that the Federal Communications Commission wants to auction to commercial carriers next year.

Delaying the auction, the FCC said, could greatly raise the cost of the build-out, which is expected to run about $6.5 billion if the project gets off the ground next year. The FCC said the 10 megahertz already allotted to public safety groups would be enough to handle communications needs. Emergency responders would be able to use roaming agreements with other networks during times of disaster for extra capacity, according to the FCC plan. However, the public safety community also wants the FCC to make the D block's 10 megahertz available to them, giving them a total of 20 megahertz for a more robust network. AT&T supports the public safety community's proposal, saying that reallocating that spectrum to emergency workers is the most cost effective path to building an network for first responders. Analysts, however, speculate that AT&T's position comes from a desire to keep the 10 megahertz of spectrum out of the hands of a competitor such as T-Mobile. A recent wireless competition report from the FCC showed that Verizon Wireless and AT&T enjoyed a growing concentration of market power.