Policy Council: Everyone recognizes the importance of public safety workers having the ability to communicate with each other during times of crisis. How do you feel this goal of interoperability is being achieved?
Mr. Guttman-McCabe: CTIA has long advocated designating spectrum and allocating resources to the public safety community in order to make interoperability a reality. The urgent need for communications between different public safety groups hit home during 9/ll. Congress has recognized the need to take action. After a thorough debate, Congress passed Digital Television (DTV) legislation that allocated 24 MHz of spectrum in the 700 MHz band for public safety. Just as importantly, Congress also set February 17, 2009 as the firm deadline for the DTV transition and set aside $1 billion of upcoming auction proceeds for grants to provide equipment and training for public safety interoperability. Setting that hard date gives public safety the certainty of when their important needs are going to be met. CTIA strongly supported the DTV bill and applauds Congress for making this a priority. By allocating resources and setting a firm deadline, Congress has given the public safety community confidence that this goal will be achieved.
Policy Council: There’s been discussion about how wireless technology can be used in national emergency alerts. Where does the industry stand on that front?
Mr. Guttman-McCabe: CTIA and the wireless industry recognize that emergency alerts via mobile phones represent a unique opportunity to enhance and facilitate early, effective warnings to wireless subscribers. Ultimately, the wireless industry hopes to develop a solution that benefits Americans, while also taking into account the massive infrastructure investment in place today and the technological developments that have yet to come. That’s why we support a two-part approach toward the development of an Emergency Alert System (EAS) that incorporates wireless technology.
In the short-term, the wireless industry proposes to deliver Presidential Level Emergency Alert messages via SMS, or text-messaging, to those subscribers who opt-in to receive those messages. The SMS capability already exists in the majority of handsets and is provided by the overwhelming majority of carriers. The plan is that by the end of 2008, our carriers will be able to deliver SMS alerts to consumers who’ve opted in to receive them based on zip codes of the consumers choosing. While limitations exist on the number and size of SMS messages, a significant benefit to the short-term use of SMS is that it is available today and could be implemented in the near future.
