Public safety should retain control of its 50 MHz of 4.9 GHz spectrum—airwaves that the FCC is considering for at least some commercial use—through an allocation to the FirstNet Authority, according to the newly formed Public Safety Spectrum Alliance (PSSA).
“We’re concerned that public safety is going to lose spectrum that we might need,” Jeff Johnson, CEO of the Western Fire Chiefs Association and former vice chairman of the FirstNet Authority, said during an interview with IWCE’s Urgent Communications. “[The PSSA was] created to provide a voice to public safety, saying, ‘We think that the 4.9 GHz spectrum needs to remain with public safety’—that’s Position 1.
“Position 2 is that we think that [the 4.9 GHz spectrum is] best given to the people who have proven themselves as the watchdogs for public safety on these matters, and that’s the FirstNet Authority. We trust that they’ll develop an effective working plan for how to go forward.”