Next Generation 911 will be a priority for the FCC...

in its Emergency Response Interoperability Center, he said. The FCC will also focus on issues like outage reporting requirements, he said. Meanwhile, the FCC seeks more information about regional 700 MHz public safety network buildout, he said. Right now information about local 700 MHz planning and deployment is mostly anecdotal, he said. Though there’s no formal comment process, it would be helpful if NPSTC can provide information about what’s being deployed and what’s in the pipeline, he said. The House and the Senate also have signaled that they hope to push spectrum legislation forward before the end of the year, said Harlin McEwen, chairman of the Public Safety Spectrum Trust. The potential approval of spectrum legislation would mean new governance of networks, he said. The PSST wants to assist with the potential transition, he said. For 2012, the NPSTC’s spectrum management committee expects to work on issues including 700 MHz broadband, recommendations on 700 MHz narrowband buildout and rules cleanup, tracking and monitoring of VHF/UHF narrowband waiver requests and FCC responses, protection of existing bands, network security and disaster recovery, said Stu Overby, vice chair of the spectrum management committee. Interoperability problems are surfacing nationwide with new non-standardized digital radio platforms being introduced on Part 90 public safety radio spectrum, said John Powell, chair of NPSTC’s interoperability committee. Day-to-day interoperability on agency channels is being destroyed by incompatible technologies, he said. NPSTC has opposed Terrestrial Trunked Radio on public safety channels and asked the FCC to include that prohibition in its Part 90 rules, he said.