First Responder Spectrum Needs Report

[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission]
The FCC submitted a report to Congress on the spectrum needs of emergency workers. The report examines the spectrum needs of traditional public safety entities and other critical first responders. It also considers proposals to enhance public safety interoperability, particularly broadband interoperability, ranging from the deployment of a nationwide, interoperable network to more easily achievable solutions that employ widely available commercial technologies. The report reaches the following principal findings: 1) Emergency response providers would benefit from the development of an integrated, interoperable nationwide network capable of delivering broadband services throughout the country. 2) While commercial wireless technologies are not appropriate for every type of public safety communication, there may now be a place for commercial providers to assist public safety in securing and protecting the homeland. 3) Prior to undertaking the instant study, the Commission has endeavored to provide adequate spectrum to satisfy public safety’s spectrum needs, and the Commission’s actions evince its long standing commitment to working closely with the public safety community to satisfy immediate and short-term spectrum needs. 4) While the effort to address the short-term spectrum needs of public safety is underway, attaining a wholesale assessment of long-term spectrum needs is an ongoing task. Mobile, broadband communications, implemented in combination with upgraded equipment, associated training and close coordination, could offer emergency response providers many important capabilities. To this end, and at the urging of public safety, the Commission will expeditiously examine whether certain channels within the current allocation of twenty-four megahertz of public safety spectrum in the 700 MHz band could be modified to accommodate broadband communications.
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-262865A1.pdf