Fed Official Announces D Block Position

The Obama administration has stepped into the debate over the future of spectrum management on Monday when U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder spoke before the annual International Association of Chiefs of Police conference in Denver, telling the audience that he supports removing the 700 MHz allocation of spectrum known as D Block from a federal auction. The D Block was put up for auction by the FCC to meet a Congressional mandate, but the spectrum failed to receive sufficient bids. In his speech, Holder argued that “new approaches” to law enforcement, “help us augment the traditionally reactive approach to law enforcement with one that can actually prevent crime before it even occurs.” He mentioned crime mapping and forensics as two areas of interest. Holder then told the group, “In this regard let me be clear on one point—I strongly support removing the D Block spectrum from auction so that it can be allocated directly to our nation’s public safety officers.” He added, “It is long past time to build the nationwide interoperable communications network we so desperately need in order to keep our nation safe during emergencies. Let’s get it done!” In the original auction, the winning bidder would have had to create a nationwide public safety communications network, and was burdened with other requirements that potential bidders didn’t want to tackle. The FCC is still debating what to do with the spectrum, and hasn’t decided if another auction for the 700 MHz frequencies will be held. Read Holder’s entire speech here.