Cyren Calls and Siren Calls: More on Public Safety Spectrum

by on February 8, 2007

Jerry Brito said it all yesterday, in his excellent post on the Cyren Call plan to reallocate 30 Mhz of spectrum to public safety, instead of auctioning it as has long been planned. His conclusion is exactly right: Public safety needs spectrum reform, not more spectrum.

Earlier this week, I beat that same drum in a paper released by Heritage called “Cyren Call and Siren Calls,” pointing out that recent rule changes by the FCC may provide public safety users many of the claimed benefits of the Cyren Call plan, with no additional spectrum allocation. My conclusion:

“The FCC’s decision is not a cure-all for the problems of public safety communications. But it is an important step, not least because it shows that reform does not necessarily require massive new resources. The most important reforms are those that allow existing resources to be used in smarter and more effective ways. As is often the case, better does not have to mean more.”

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James Gattuso / James Gattuso is a Senior Research Fellow in Regulatory Policy in the Roe Institute for Economic Policy Studies at The Heritage Foundation. Gattuso also leads the Enterprise and Free Markets Initiative at Heritage, with responsiblity for a range of regulatory and market issues. Prior to joining Heritage, he served as Vice President for Policy at the Competitive Enterprise Institute and also as Vice President for Policy Development with Citizens for a Sound Economy (CSE). From 1990 to 1993, he was Deputy Chief of the Office of Plans and Policy at the Federal Communications Commission. From May 1991 to June 1992, he was detailed from the FCC to the office of Vice President Dan Quayle, where he served as Associate Director of the President's Council on Competitiveness. He lives in Alexandria, Virginia with his wife Dana, 8 year-old son, Peter (whom he relies upon to operate his VCR), and his four year-old daughter Lindsey (who does the DVD player.) He has no known hobbies, but is not nearly as boring as he seems.

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