Congress Questions Limited Source of Radio Gear

Public safety agencies have had to rely on “an exclusive or limited vendor pool for (radio) equipment and devices,” according to a Congressman’s letter to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) asking the commission to clarify the current radio equipment marketplace, and how proprietary gear might affect interoperability, innovation or costs. In its response to Rep. Henry Waxman’s (D-Calif.) questions, the FCC said proprietary radio gear negatively impacts all of those issues, but said that even open standards gear “is not enough” to ensure competition. Waxman’s letter was sparked by a June subcommittee hearing on funding for a nationwide public safety broadband network, which the FCC anticipates would operate in the 700 MHz band. But Waxman noted this would be a “significant change” from the current voice network, and wondered how the spectrum and technical differences would affect public safety operations. Waxman asked how Project 25-compliant radios have achieved “true interoperability,” and if the current vendor marketplace hinders that goal. The FCC responded that interoperability has still not be achieved among public safety agencies, but didn’t know if limited competition contributed to that result. The FCC noted that its proposed broadband plan includes incentive-based partnerships between commercial companies and governments by “leveraging commercial broadband deployment for consumers in the 700 MHz band.” Download (pdf) Waxman’s information request and the FCC’s response here.