The International Association of Fire Chiefs association is among affected organizations asking Congress to repeal the requirement that the 470-512 MHz T-Band spectrum be auctioned, according to Homeland Security Today.
“When Congress established FirstNet, it also mandated that the FCC auction public-safety spectrum in the T-Band by February 2021. Local public-safety organizations that use that spectrum would have to clear it within two years of the auction,” the IAFC said in a statement.
The problem with this requirement, the association said, is that it would affect communications in 11 major metro areas, including New York City, the Washington, D.C. area, Boston, Chicago and Los Angeles. For example, the T-Band spectrum was used as the interoperable communications channel in Boston during the response to the Patriots’ Day bombing in 2013.
“In addition, the cost of migrating these jurisdictions would be catastrophic ($5.9 billion), even though some jurisdictions would have no other spectrum to migrate to. To resolve this issue, the IAFC and other affected organizations are asking Congress to repeal the requirement that this T-Band spectrum be auctioned,” the statement concluded.
March 26, 2018
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