Public Safety Spectrum Trust

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Timeline

• On November 30, 2007, the PSST released its revised Bidder Information Document, which incorporated feedback provided from potential D Block bidders and others since the release of the first Bidder Information Document.
• On November 19, 2007, the PSST was selected by the FCC to hold the nationwide Public Safety Broadband License.
• On November 15, 2007, the PSST released its initial Bidder Information Document to provide prospective D Block bidders additional information regarding the PSST’s expectations for a shared public safety-commercial network in advance of the short form applications (due December 3). The PSST understands the importance of making the overall commercial opportunity attractive & that the network must work well for all parties or it won’t work for any.
• On November 9, 2007, the FCC issued a Public Notice announcing the selection of the four at-large members to the PSBL’s board of directors:
  • American Hospital Association (AHA)
  • National Fraternal Order of Police (NFOP)
  • National Association of State 9-1-1 Administrators (NASNA)
  • National Emergency Management Association (NEMA)
• On November 2, 2007, the newly-constituted Board of Directors of the PSST met in Washington, DC. The Board elected officers for a two-year term:
  • Harlin McEwen, IACP, Chairman
  • Kevin McGinnis, NASEMSO, Vice-Chairman
  • Alan Caldwell, IAFC, Secretary-Treasurer
• On October 10, 2007, the PSST submitted its application to the FCC requesting it be issued the PSBL.
• On October 8, 2007, the PSST Executive Committee met with representatives of Cyren Call to lay-out future work tasks.
• On October 5, 2007, the newly constituted Board of Directors of the PSST unanimously selected Cyren Call Communications as its agent/advisor.
• On October 2, 2007, the original nine members of the Board of Directors of the PSST approved changes to their Articles of Incorporation and By Laws to conform to the Second R&O and the subsequent Order on Reconsideration.
• On September 24, 2007, the FCC issued a modification to the Second R&O that changed the required membership for the PSBL.
• On August 24, 2007, the Second R&O was published in the Federal Register.
  • FCC said it would issue a single nationwide Public Safety Broadband License (PSBL).
  • The makeup of the PSBL Board, as set forth in the Second R&O, was different from that in the newly-incorporated PSST.
• On August 10, 2007, the text for the Second R&O was released.
• On July 31 2007, the FCC adopted the Second Report and Order.
• On June 19, 2007, the PSST held its first meeting. Established bylaws and elected initial officers:
  • President – Harlin McEwen, IACP
  • Vice President – Bob Gurss, APCO
  • Secretary-Treasurer – Alan Caldwell, IAFC
• On June 6, 2007, the Public Safety Spectrum Trust (PSST) was created in the District of Columbia as a not-for-profit Corporation.
  • Formed with the goal of being issued the nationwide Public Safety Broadband License (PSBL).
  • Formed by the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials-International (APCO), International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) and International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC).
• On April 25, 2007, the FCC issued a Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (FNPRM)
  • This was a complex proceeding involving both the lower and the upper 700 MHz band to be auctioned, as well as several proposed band plans.
  • It proposed creation of a single National Public Safety License (originally suggested in the Ninth NPRM).
  • The National Public Safety Telecommunications Council (NPSTC) became the central coordinating and filing body for the national public safety organizatio
• On December 20, 2006, the FCC stated the following in a Proposed Rulemaking:
  • "We believe that the time may have come for a significant departure from the typical public safety allocation model the Commission has used in the past."
  • "While this system has had significant benefits for public safety users, in terms of permitting them to deploy voice and narrowband facilities for their needs, the system has also resulted in uneven build-out across the country in different bands, balkanization of spectrum between large numbers of incompatible systems, and interoperability difficulties if not inabilities"
• On February 8, 2006, the President signed a law (Deficit Reduction Act of 2005) that requires TV Broadcasters to vacate these channels no later than February 17, 2009.
• The NCC, in its final report in July 2003, recommended that half of the new spectrum (12 MHz) be designated for urgently-needed public safety narrowband voice channels, and that the remaining 12 MHz be designated for wideband data channels.
  • Since then, significant advances in technology have made it desirable to consider broadband data channels as opposed to wideband data channels.
• On August 6, 1998, the FCC created the Public Safety National Coordinating Committee (NCC) under the authority of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA).
  • The purpose of the NCC was to recommend rules for the use of the 24 MHz of public safety spectrum in the 700 MHz band.
• The FCC then reallocated television channels 63, 64, 68, and 69 for public safety use. This spectrum is in the upper 700 MHz band
• As a result of the PSWAC report, Congress directed the FCC (in the Balanced Budget Act of 1997) to allocate no later than January 1, 1998, 24 MHz of radio spectrum between 746 and 806 MHz (to be recovered from television channels 60-69 as a result of the implementation of digital television).
• On September 11, 1996, (5 years before the terrible events of September 11, 2001), PSWAC released a report setting forth the current and future spectrum needs of public safety.
  • Among the findings of the PSWAC report was that 97.5 MHz of new public safety spectrum was needed by 2010, including 25 MHz within five years.
• In 1995, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), along with the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), established the Public Safety Wireless Advisory Committee (PSWAC) to provide an assessment of the communications needs of public safety agencies through the year 2010.

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