Verizon Exec Has 700 MHz Recommendation

The CEO of Verizon Wireless has a suggestion on how to allocate the portion of the 700 MHz band that didn’t attract bidders last year–give it away directly to public safety agencies. During the annual CTIA conference in Las Vegas this week, Verizon Wireless CEO Ivan Seidenberg told an audience, “We cannot afford to wade through another round of auctions and redundant network construction.” Instead, he said that state and local public safety agencies could partner with local network providers “to create the robust interoperable system this country needs.” The FCC attempted to auction off 10 MHz of 700 MHz spectrum last year for a public safety network–the so-called D Block–but it attracted only one bid that fell far short of the commission’s $1.3 billion minimum bid. The FCC is now considering whether to re-auction the spectrum, or come up with another method of creating a public safety network. Read Seidenberg’s entire speech here.