Forget the money: Congress should allocate radio frequency band for public safety

The Federal Communications Commission's failure to sell a swath of the 700 MHz radio frequency band called the D Block at a public auction in 2008 has temporarily halted development of a nationwide public safety network. The quickest and simplest way to eliminate this road block would be to allocate that spectrum for public safety use.

Because Congress established the terms for disposing of this spectrum, Congress should act now to bundle it with the existing public safety channels so that creation of a nationwide, interoperable network for law enforcement, emergency services and other first responders can go ahead. The nation might forgo a billion dollars that could have been generated by auctioning off the spectrum to a private-sector licensee. But strings now attached to the D Block already have undercut its commercial worth, and its value to public safety could be far greater.