Sens. Rockefeller and Hutchison push for public safety network

Sens Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) and Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX), the chairman and ranking member of the Senate Commerce Committee, reiterated their support for a public safety broadband network in a letter to the Federal Communications Commission.

The senators, pointing to communications problems following last week’s East Coast earthquake, said the FCC needs to work harder to protect communications networks during emergencies, both for consumers using commercial networks and for emergency responders. “Despite being six years from the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina and ten years from the tragic events of 9/11, we still do not have an interoperable wireless broadband network for public safety,” the senators wrote. “We must not allow any more potentially life-threatening disasters to occur before our nation’s first responders get the interoperable public safety communications system they need to keep us safe. And, as the communications troubles following the earthquake reminded us, we cannot require public safety to rely exclusively on commercial networks for their mission-critical, advanced wireless communications needs.”