2026 Agenda

The FCC originally assigned licenses for the 4.9 GHz band to public safety on a geographic basis (citywide, countywide, statewide, etc.), which were absent any requirement for formal, inter-agency frequency coordination and planning. It was thought the flexibility within this unique licensing model would foster commercial technologies to drive public safety broadband innovation, enhance public safety's use of the band and public safety's use of the band would be collaborative between and across agencies. Unfortunately, this did not happen. As a result, the original public safety licensing model for 4.9 GHz didn't instill confidence in public safety's use of the band for mission critical operations, and that lack of confidence contributed to less than expected overall use of the band. Finally, little use of the band resulted in the lack of the establishment and sustainment of a robust, public safety broadband device ecosystem that would have supported 4.9 GHz hardware/software solutions and that were cost-effective for public safety to deploy and use.

Since that time there's been a lot of debate about the 4.9 GHz public safety spectrum, its usefulness to public safety, who should be allowed to use it and how as well as how it should be managed to facilitate public safety broadband. There's also been a lot of misinformation regarding the band – this session will explore what the 4.9 GHz band is, why it's been allocated to public safety, why it's mission critical to keeping communities safe and what the future holds.

Takeaway

1. Learn the history of the 4.9 GHz band and how it became allocated to public safety.
2. Discuss the challenges public safety has historically faced in its use of the band.
3. Explore the future of the band and how public safety can benefit from it use.