Number: RL34054
Title: Public-Private Partnership for a Public Safety Network: Governance and Policy
Authors: Linda K. Moore, Resources, Science, and Industry Division 
Abstract: This report summarizes salient points of Federal Communications Commission (FCC) actions regarding the creation of a public-private partnership to build and manage a national communications network for public safety use. The Communications Act of 1934, as amended, empowers the FCC to set rules for auctions and to take steps to ensure the safety of the public. The FCC has used this authority to design a governance structure that would allow a Public Safety Broadband Licensee (PSBL) to share spectrum rights with a commercial enterprise and to collaborate in the construction and management of a shared network. As currently proposed by the FCC, a public-private partnership would build a shared network on spectrum capacity assigned to two separate license-holders. In the FCC plan, the PSBL would hold a national license of 10MHz in the 700 MHz band and a commercial partner would hold an adjacent license for 10 MHz, nationwide, designated as the D Block. The two licensees and the network would operate according to requirements set out by the FCC as part of its rulemaking for the auction of frequencies within the 700 MHz band. These frequencies are being vacated by television broadcasters in their switch to digital technologies.
Pages: 26
Date: October 16, 2008