4.9 GHz Band Still Important for Public Safety, Say New York, Other Commenters

New York City and other commenters asked the FCC to preserve the 4.9 GHz band for public safety use. Comments were due Friday on a Further NPRM on the public safety band, approved 5-0 by commissioners in March (see 1803220037). Commissioners have been frustrated that 16 years after its use was approved for public safety, the band remains underused. The notice was the sixth by the FCC on the band. Comments were posted in docket 07-100.

New York City delineated all the ways that the 4.9 GHz band is used there. The police department uses the band “to support on-street camera video backhaul, specialized video link applications supporting bomb squad robots and counter terrorism applications,” the city said. The fire department uses it “to support wireless video and data communications at the scene of major fires, including wireless Command Boards which track all resources, both human and material, at the scene of an incident enabling Incident Commanders to more readily and efficiently conduct fire operations,” the city said. The transit agency “utilizes 4.9 GHz channels to support their Help Point emergency call box system deployed in the underground sections of the NYC subway system.”

The San Francisco Bay Area Regional Interoperable Communications System Authority (BayRICS) also enumerated ways the band is used there. “Public safety agencies are currently engaged in active and continuous use of 4.9 GHz band,” BayRICS said. “The band is not underutilized, at least in the Bay Area.” The FCC shouldn’t mandate sharing of the band “unless it determine that such sharing will cause no interference or impose additional costs on Bay Area public safety operations,” BayRICS said.

The FCC should provide more flexibility in how public safety agencies can use the band while committing to maintaining 4.9 GHz as a public safety band, APCO said. “After the rules change to increase flexibility and provide assurance of interference-free access to the band, time will be needed for these changes to take effect and permeate through the marketplace before public safety use could reasonably be expected to rise,” the group said. “Public safety agencies and technology vendors will be less likely to invest in 4.9 GHz solutions if they lack confidence that the band will be a long-term option for public safety.”

The 4.9 GHz band is widely used for intelligent transportation systems and must be protected from harmful interference, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) said. “AASHTO members, while broadly agreeing to the various recommendations within the Proposed Rulemaking that support enhanced utilization of this spectrum, are categorically opposed to potential commercialization and to the sharing of this spectrum with non-public safety and non-Critical Infrastructure Industry entities," the group said.

Rather than reallocating the band, the FCC should address why it's underutilized, the National Regional Planning Council said. “One of the primary issues preventing wider spread use of the band by public safety is the lack of frequency coordination for licensing and use of the band,” the council said. “Public safety by its very nature does what it can to avoid and mitigate risk. Public safety mitigates risk by avoiding uncertainty. The current rules environment where use and licensing of the 4.9 GHz band is not coordinated results in uncertainty.”

But Federated Wireless said the FCC should authorize a two-tier sharing system in which public safety use would be protected while others also could use the spectrum. “Despite years of efforts by the Commission to encourage greater use and investment in the band, a dearth of equipment and lack of widespread use from the public safety community, continues to render the band largely underutilized,” Federated said. “The stagnation in the 4.9 GHz band stands in stark contrast to other spectrum bands in which usage is increasing exponentially and the Commission is working at breakneck speed to provide access to support existing broadband services and provide opportunities for new services and applications.” Mid-band spectrum is especially valuable and desired for other use, Federated said.

The Enterprise Wireless Alliance said the FCC should broaden the eligibility criteria for the spectrum to allow access by private enterprise users but not open it for commercial use. “Commercial allocations are a form of FCC central planning and a choice with a highly predictable outcome,” EWA said. “They inevitably result in spectrum either being awarded to a small number of commercial operators through the auction process, or being made available on an unlicensed basis, or a combination of the two.” Public safety agencies also shouldn’t be allowed to lease the band to carriers, EWA said. “Creating an arbitrage opportunity for public safety entities to acquire spectrum for the purpose of leasing it, rather than utilizing it for public safety operations, defeats the purpose of designating spectrum for public safety use in the first place,” the group said.