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While there’s been much talk lately about what happened in the 700 MHz auction, the parts about the vacant D-Block have been relegated to back page status. Apparently, the benefits of creating a public safety network isn’t sexy enough to make headlines. The original idea was to have the winner of the D-Block spectrum help public safety officials build out a comprehensive communications network. Their reward would be the commercialization of any remaining spectrum. Apparently, that wasn’t incentive enough. While there was some early action in D-Block bidding, it never met the reserve price. In questioning the auction, Congress is wondering what it can do to facilitate the sale of this spectrum.

The most prevalent alternative suggested is to auction off the D-Block without restriction. The money raised would then be earmarked for public safety, so that they could build their own network.

However, Harlin McEwen, chairman and CEO of the Public Safety Spectrum Trust, believes that the original public-private model is best, despite the auction results. He’s not alone.

“While we must learn from the recent auction experience, NENA remains convinced that a public-private partnership between the commercial D-Block licensee and public safety is currently the most viable option for funding and deploying a national interoperable broadband network for public safety,” said Jason Barbour, president of the National Emergency Number Association. “We encourage the FCC to move forward diligently while ensuring that public safety’s need for an advanced next generation wireless broadband network is realized.”

FCC Chairman Kevin Martin is also of this thinking, as is Commissioner Michael Copps. They want to rework the D-Block auction with different approaches to the “reserve price, build-out and service requirements and network-sharing agreement guidelines.”

If they do, however, choose to go with the Congressionally-suggested alternative, I pray that they keep Verizon and AT&T out of it. No reason to allow them to get even more spectrum.

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