FCC Provides Opportunity for Comment on First Responder Network Authority Filing

The Federal Communications Commission’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau provides seven days for public comment on matters raised by the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) in its August 2, 2013, filing in PS Docket 12-94.

FirstNet’s filing responds to a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) that seeks comment on, among other matters, the consolidation into Part 90 of technical service rules for the 758-769 and 788-799 MHz bands, which, heretofore, have been subject to regulation under both Parts 27 and 90. The rules at issue include power, emission, and field strength limits and interference coordination procedures designed to prevent interference to operations of other FCC licensees. This proposed rule consolidation is intended to “facilitate the transition” of spectrum to the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet), the entity licensed to establish a nationwide public safety broadband network using both the public safety broadband spectrum (763-768/793-798 MHz) and the adjacent “D Block” (758-763/788-793 MHz) previously slated for commercial auction. In proposing this rule consolidation, the FCC further directed its Office of Engineering and Technology (OET) to suspend its acceptance and processing of applications for equipment authorization in these bands pending the adoption of technical service rules applicable to the combined band.

In its filing, FirstNet supports “consolidating the technical requirements for the former D Block into Part 90 of the Commission’s Rules” and recommends that the Commission “act quickly to amend its technical service rules to enable FirstNet to expedite the deployment of” its network.” Additionally, FirstNet urges “swift Commission action to begin accepting and processing equipment authorizations in the newly combined spectrum,” citing “an imminent need for authorized equipment to meet the needs of jurisdictions that may deploy early” in FirstNet’s licensed spectrum under spectrum leases. FirstNet has already entered lease agreements with the Los Angeles Regional Interoperable Communications System (LA-RICS) and the State of New Mexico, and it has stated its intention to execute similar agreements with other public safety jurisdictions in the near future. While FirstNet supports FCC action to “expedite a process” for equipment authorization to support these early deployments, it cautions that “the equipment market will need to evolve once the architecture for the nationwide public safety broadband network has been set.”