Verizon Looking for Grassroots Support for 4.9 GHz Stance

The divisive issue pits the Public Safety Spectrum Alliance (PSSA), with AT&T's support, the Communications Workers of America and numerous public safety groups against the Coalition for Emergency Response and Critical Infrastructure (CERCI). CERCI was formed last year when other public safety groups joined the Edison Electric Institute, T-Mobile, UScellular, Verizon and the Competitive Carriers Association.

“I’d like to call to your attention ... a proposal being considered by the FCC” that “calls for the FCC to issue a ‘nationwide overlay license’” in the 4.9 GHz band, said an email circulated by Krista Bistline, Verizon director-state and local government affairs. “Many current users of the 4.9 GHz band are not aware of this potential change.

“The proposal contains language that takes away access to the spectrum, by stripping public safety licensees’ right to expand their systems and forcing ‘licensees to surrender spectrum they are not using,’” Bistline wrote. “If your agency or locality deploys the 4.9 GHz band, or has plans to use it in the future, to keep your community safe, the FCC needs to know.” She warned that the FCC appears to be speeding up the timing of a decision. The email, which was shared with Communications Daily, apparently went to officials in Ohio. It lists 99 4.9 GHz licenses in that state. Verizon and Bistline didn’t comment.

The National Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) posted a notice to members warning against lobbying by CERCI and others. FOP supports “the authorization of 4.9 GHz spectrum use within the Nationwide Public Safety Broadband Network (NPSBN)," it said, adding that "the most efficient and cost-effective way to achieve this goal is to grant a nationwide license to the First Responder Network Authority.”

The kind of outreach Verizon is conducting is common, said Harold Feld, senior vice president of Public Knowledge, which opposes giving FirstNet control of the band. “We have seen AT&T reach out to public safety groups with which it has long-standing relationships” and it's not surprising that “Verizon is now reaching out to counter this.”

In addition, Hill staffers are monitoring opinions on issues like the 4.9 GHz band as they decide whether their legislator should weigh in, Feld said. “This is business as usual, and to a certain extent” commission staff “view this with a jaundiced eye, and they will tell you they don't make policy by counting noses.” But this is a policy decision, not just a technical decision and therefore a “political decision.”

That AT&T CEO John Stankey and Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg visited the commission to discuss the band's future “already tells you both companies think it is important,” New Street’s Blair Levin said. The 4.9 GHz debate “raises a number of interesting legal and policy issues related to how spectrum should be allocated,” Levin emailed. From a market perspective, “all the companies would like to improve their spectrum relative to their competitors and, just as important, do not want to see their competitors improve their relative spectrum position.”

Verizon regrets its decision not to participate in the bid to be FirstNet’s carrier partner, said Recon Analytics’ Roger Entner. “Verizon took the first responder market for granted and now sees that AT&T is making major inroads,” he said. Anything that would make AT&T/FirstNet stronger, “like the 4.9 GHz spectrum, is therefore something that Verizon must oppose from a competitive perspective.”