FCC Votes To Not Auction 450-470 Mhz Spectrum... For Now

It appears that for now, central station frequencies are safe from FCC spectrum auctions. On Thursday, November 2, the Alarm Industry Communications Committee (AICC) and its Counsel, Blooston, Mordkofsky, Jackson & Dickens (BMJD), met with the wireless advisors for each of the five FCC Commissioners and with the Wireless Bureau staff to discuss the private radio spectrum auction, in anticipation of a vote on the matter on November 9. AICC lobbyist Bill Signer, BMJD's John Prendergast and Gene Maliszewskyj and CSAA member Robert Bonifas, who rearranged his schedule to fly in the same evening, participated in the meeting.

At the same time, the Central Station Alarm Association (CSAA) and its members were able to obtain letters of support from the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), the Association of Public Safety Communications Officials (APCO) and from various Congressmen, which were presented to the FCC. The IACP and APCO letters were the result of the strong relations that CSAA has with other professional organizations and regulators.

The group was warmly received by the FCC staff, and at least two staffers (Mark Schneider from Commissioner Ness' office and Clint Odom of Chairman Kennard's office) indicated that they appreciated the group's input, since the FCC did not previously have a good understanding of how the alarm industry used its radio frequencies, and how public safety entities were involved. All of the Commission staffers were sympathetic to some degree. The AICC/CSAA representatives nonetheless pressed the public safety case for alarm radio operations, in case the FCC changes its mind in the future about auctions in the central station alarm industry's band.

The group also discussed the issue of licensing customers as mobiles with the Wireless Bureau staff, pointing out that their change last year deleted the option of simply licensing a service area radius and having all customers within that radius be protected from interference as "mobiles", even though their radios are at fixed locations. AICC is working on obtaining a clarification of this issue.

On November 9, the FCC voted not to auction the 450-470 MHz band, including the alarm frequencies. Thus, at least for now, our industry's frequencies are safe. The text of the order is not out yet, and AICC/CSAA's Counsel will be reviewing the "fine print".

The FCC also declined to form a "private safety pool" for safety-related operations. The FCC mentioned something about recognizing safety status for such entities for auction purposes, but until the order is reviewed, we won't know whether the alarm industry was included, and what the benefit is.

We will provide a more detailed analysis as soon as the order is released. But overall, it appears that we have dodged the auction bullet for now.