I have kept a half-shut eye on the news about the public safety network (aka D block). It’s the failure of last spring’s FCC Spectrum Auction. They wanted to auction off spectrum to have someone build a public safety network. No one bid the required minimum.

It has always seemed a little funny to me. As I recall, Cyren Call was a company that was going to build the network but then they changed seats and worked with the government/nonprofit (Public Safety Spectrum Trust (PSST) to find someone to build the network. Next Frontline was going to build the network – or at least bid at the auction – and they got out because the prices were too high. There were rumors that Cyren Call had something to do with Frontline losing interest.

Well yesterday I read an article that said that Cyren Call might be getting out of the game too. PSST owes Cyren Call money. Cyren Call went to the FCC to see if they could charge PSST more. Also Cyren Call seems to be saying that they can’t be working forever without compensation. But there isn’t anyone else to step into their role.

The FCC is coming to apparently coming to a decision on the public safety spectrum. They have dropped the price from $1.33 billion to $750 million. They have opened up the option to bid for a national and/or regional contract. Well, there are 58 regional contracts; you can bid on the national level and the FCC will choose whatever is higher. They have decided that the regional or national system should be linked by interoperable standards.

People are worried that the regional/national options will leave gaps in service. I’m kind of short-sighted but I don’t think the contract looks very attractive regardless. Yes, you could build up a great niche market – but I think the market is finite and I think the Feds will be deciding how much you can charge. In fact, in September, the FCC recommended that, for the first four years of the arrangement, public safety groups pay a base rate of $48.50 per user per month to access a national or regional network, regardless of how the auction works out. In some ways the government would be both the shareholders (the FCC) and the customers (EMT folks around the country) and I think that’s a hard balance to maintain.

I must be missing something.