The U.S. Federal Communications Commission has taken a first step toward re-auctioning
a band of spectrum that failed to sell in the 700MHz
auctions that ended in March.

The FCC on Wednesday voted to ask for public comments on how to re-auction
the D block, a 10MHz piece of spectrum that commissioners had wanted to pair
with another 10MHz controlled by public-safety agencies. The FCC would have
required the winner of the D block to build a nationwide wireless voice and
data network to be shared by public-safety agencies and commercial users, but
the agency failed to receive the minimum US$1.3 billion bid it wanted.

The agency raised several questions about the D block in the notice
of proposed rulemaking approved Wednesday. Commissioners asked whether it
was still appropriate to keep the public/private partnership, in which the spectrum
winner would have worked with the Public Safety Spectrum Trust (PSST), a coalition
of 15 public-safety groups that controls the second 10MHz block that would have
been paired with the D block.

The FCC's notice also asks for ideas on how to auction the D block if it's
not paired with the public-safety spectrum.

The FCC also asked the public what fees are appropriate for a combined network.
Some advocacy groups criticized the PSST and advisor Cyren
Call for suggesting they want an annual $50 million lease payment from the
D block's winner in exchange for use of their 10MHz. The FCC also asked whether
for-profit organizations should be involved with the PSST.

FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said he still supports the concept of a public/private
partnerships, but he was pleased that the notice "turns a critical eye
on the specific parameters of the partnership, and ways to ensure the commercial
viability of this endeavor by providing greater certainty to all parties involved."

The FCC needs to deal with the public-safety spectrum issue "thoughtfully
and quickly," Martin added.

The D block auction was watched closely because many U.S. lawmakers and public-safety
officials pushed for a nationwide network to be created after many emergency
responders couldn't communicate with each other during the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist
attacks. Police and fire departments in neighboring cities often use different
communication devices on different blocks of spectrum and a nationwide network
for them has been a top priority of the FCC and several lawmakers.

Commissioner Michael Copps raised concerns there are "daunting technical
issues" that need to be addressed with the public-safety network, but the
FCC hasn't appointed a technical advisory council to help with that task.

The best solution for public safety agencies would be a network funded by the
U.S. Congress, but the cost takes that option off the table, added Copps, a
Democrat.

"In the seven years since 9/11, three years since Hurricane Katrina, and
one year since we began the most recent auction of the 700 MHz spectrum band,
we have learned two hard and disappointing lessons," Copps said. "First,
that America desperately needs to improve the communications tools available
to its heroic first responders. And, second, that achieving this task is not
going to be easy."

Bids for the 700MHz spectrum totaled $19.6 billion. The D block received one
bid for $472 million [m].

Many telecom experts see the 700MHz spectrum, which U.S. television stations
are required to abandon by February 2009, as optimal for long-range wireless
broadband services. Wireless signals in the 700MHz band travel three to four
times farther and penetrate obstacles such as buildings more easily than wireless
signals in higher spectrum bands.

IDG News Service

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