Motorola Says FCC Public Safety Network Proposal Falls Short

Motorola weighed in against a proposal in the National Broadband Plan to sell the 700 MHz D-block in an upcoming auction rather than reallocating the spectrum directly to public safety. The plan’s approach on a national interoperable network for public safety “falls short in several ways,” said Motorola, the latest party to express reservations about the plan.

In a letter sent to the FCC Friday, the National Governors Association also supported reallocating the D-block to public safety (CD April 12 p8). APCO noted in a news release Monday that a growing number of groups oppose the broadband plan’s approach on the D-block. Motorola is the leading maker of first responder radios in the U.S. and its advice has historically been given significant weight by the FCC. Company representatives met with Office of Engineering and Technology Chief Julius Knapp and officials with the Wireless and Public Safety bureaus, according to an ex parte filing.

"Guaranteeing only 10 MHz of capacity is insufficient to meet public safety needs; waiting later to add capacity from another band as FCC has implied exacerbates interoperability and raises costs,” Motorola said. “Both analysis and experience shows that commercial grade priority access is insufficient to meet public safety needs. LTE technology does not solve this problem. Ruthless pre-emption is required, but is not a viable result for consumers or carriers.” By separating the D-block and the 10 MHz of 700 MHz spectrum already allocated to public safety, the FCC could be setting up “interference and coverage” problems similar to those that required the agency to address 800 MHz interference issues, Motorola said. “Reallocating the D block and joining it with the [Public Safety Spectrum Trust] spectrum to dedicate 20 MHz for public safety broadband will resolve these problems,” it said. “The extra 10 MHz from the D block doubles the spectrum for public safety but is only 2 percent of the 500 MHz FCC has committed to provide for commercial use.”