Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Bill would close 700 Mhz spectrum loophole

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 26 Mar 2003 17:28:07 -0500

Bill would close spectrum loophole

BY Dibya Sarkar
March 26, 2003

Two congressional lawmakers have reintroduced a bill to ensure
that TV broadcasters transfer a 24 MHz piece of spectrum to
public safety officials by 2006, a move supported by first
responders.

The Homeland Emergency Response Operations (HERO) Act,
co-sponsored by Reps. Jane Harman (D-Calif.) and Curt Weldon
(R-Pa.), was introduced March 25 and referred to the House
Energy and Commerce Committee.

H.R. 1425 firmly sets a Dec. 31, 2006, deadline for the transition,
closing what some say is a loophole that would allow broadcasters
to continue to use the channels if digital TV wasn't received by a
certain percentage of American households.

"It is disgraceful that emergency responders in the 21st century are
forced to use archaic and out-of-date communication tools,"
Weldon said in a prepared statement. "The increasing demands on
our radio frequencies over the last 15 years have put the public
and our emergency response personnel in great danger."

In 1997, Congress passed a law authorizing the Federal
Communications Commission to re-allocate radio spectrum from
764 MHz to 776 MHz and from 794 MHz to 806 MHz. TV
broadcasters currently use that spectrum (channels 63, 64, 68 and 69), and the law called
for it
to be re-allocated for public safety uses.

The requirement was based on the previous year's Public Safety Wireless Advisory Committee

report that public safety agencies lacked adequate radio spectrum and that would hamper
emergency responses. The committee actually recommended that public safety receive an
additional 97.5 MHz of radio spectrum by 2010.

Under the current legislation, TV broadcasters have until Dec. 31, 2006, to move or until
85
percent of the households in a market have access to digital TV signals, whichever is
later.
According to lawmakers and public safety officials, only 1 percent of households have
digital
TV.

But even if the spectrum was transferred immediately, law enforcement officials have said,

manufacturers have not developed mobile, portable or base station radio equipment that can

operate in the 700 MHz band

http://www.fcw.com/geb/articles/2003/0324/web-spectrum-03-26-03.asp

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