SpectrumTalk

Washington Post Reports D Block Policy Impasse Resolved at FCC

Today's Washington Post reports that in a conference call with reporter yesterday, Chairman Martin described a new approach to getting the D block into actual use so it will be available to public safety agencies.

New details on a plan to create a national communications network for police, fire and other emergency first responders were announced yesterday by the Federal Communications Commission after an earlier effort to sell the network this year failed to produce a buyer.

Under the new proposal, the network would be auctioned as one national block of radio spectrum or, alternatively, as 58 separate regional airwaves licenses. The agency said that it prefers to sell the spectrum as a whole and that it would give priority to such a bid. But if no one meets the minimum reserve price for the national block, the commission would close the auction with a minimum of half of the 58 regional licenses sold.