TMCnet News
Top 5 stories: Week of Oct. 20 - 24(Urgent Communications Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Here’s a look at the most popular stories on IWCE’s Urgent Communications from the last week: 1) “Fair warning from Sprint: We can’t buy 800 MHz spectrum we just returned to the FCC” – Speculators who swooped in to buy frequencies in the guard band from 861 MHz to 862 MHz were no doubt disappointed to learn that Sprint has no intention to buy the spectrum. “I get a couple of calls per week from licensees that want to sell me spectrum,” Bill Jenkins, Sprint’s vice president of spectrum management, said during an interview with IWCE’s Urgent Communications. “A lot of times, the ink is not dry on the license when I get the phone call.” Even if the wireless company wanted the 800 MHz spectrum, the FCC has barred them from buying back the spectrum lost during rebanding. 2) “FCC Chairman Wheeler describes multistate 911 outage report as ‘terrifying,’ vows to take action quickly” – FCC commissioners have asked its chief of public-safety and homeland-security bureau to come back – and come back quickly – with a proposal on what measures the FCC can implement to prevent more massive 911 outages in the future. “We’re pro- new technology, but we’re even more pro- public safety,” FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said during a recent meeting where a presentation was given on the technology issue that caused a major outage in the state of Washington, half of Minnesota and parts of five other states. “The presentation makes it clear that the transition to all-IP networks is going to create a series of challenges such as this. An outage as the result of a hurricane or flooding is one thing. An outage as the result of bad code is completely something else.” 3) “Partnerships are much more than contracts – and important distinction for FirstNet” – Andrew M. Seybold analyzes the difference between a contract and a partnership and explains why it matters for FirstNet and why he believes the RFI and RFP processes could hinder that process. “If FirstNet is to be successful, partnerships are vital. FirstNet must have the ability to seek out and discuss potential partnership agreements, without having to resort to RFI/RFP rigid rules and regulations that hamper all those who work in the federal environment,” Seybold writes. 4) “Motorola Solutions announces new public-safety LTE device, will showcase at IACP” – Motorola Solutions announced a new mission-critical LTE handheld device that operates on the 700 MHz Band 14 spectrum that is licensed to FirstNet. The company is showcasing the device, which also features its new Public Safety Experience (PSX) user interface, at the International Association of Chiefs of Police conference in Orlando this week. 5) “Spot. Find. Fix. Interference Techniques App note” – This free white paper, presented by Anritsu, addresses how to resolve the increasingly complex and prevalent RF interference that you are likely to encounter as wireless and broadcast services change. © 2014 Penton Media |