A Lone Hold-Out on Spectrum Policy Vote

The National Emergency Number Association (NENA) was the only member of a public safety communications federation to vote “No” today when the group officially took a position against auctioning off 700 MHz spectrum to a commercial business. The National Public Safety Telecommunications Council (NPSTC) Governing Board representing 12 organizations said such an auction would give up valuable spectrum, “undermine progress made during recent meetings among numerous major public safety organizations to further address matters related to the development of a nationwide interoperable broadband network.” NENA is standing alone on its recommendation that a 1997 allocation of 700 MHz spectrum be included in an auction of the so-called “D Block” spectrum that failed to sell last year. In its statement, NPSTC urged NENA to “abandon the promotion of its proposal,” and instead, “support current efforts by the majority of the national public safety organizations.” Download (pdf) a press release here.