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 NEWS  Federal  Communications  Commission  445  12  th  Street,  S.  W.  Washington,  D.  C.  20554  This  is  an  unofficial  announcement  of  Commission  action.  Release  of  the  full  text  of  a  Commission  order  constitutes  official  action.  See  MCI  v.  FCC.  515  F  2d  385  (D.  C.  Circ  1974).  News  Media  Information  202  /  418-  0500  Internet:  http://  www.  fcc.  gov  TTY:  1-  888-  835-  5322 
 FOR  IMMEDIATE  RELEASE  NEWS  MEDIA  CONTACT:  September  10,  2003  Meribeth  McCarrick  at  (202)  418-  0654 
 Public  Safety  National  Coordination  Committee  Chair  Briefs  Federal  Communications  Commission  on  Interoperability  Standards 
 Washington,  D.  C.  –  Today  at  the  Federal  Communications  Commission’s  monthly  open  meeting,  Kathleen  Wallman  briefed  the  FCC  on  the  achievements  of  the  Public  Safety  National 
 Coordination  Committee  (NCC)  –  a  Federal  Advisory  Committee  chartered  in  1999.  The  NCC  developed  technical  and  operational  standards  for  the  new  Public  Safety  700  MHz  Band  --  laying  the 
 groundwork  for  nationwide  public  safety  interoperable  communications  systems  that  will  serve  the  communications  needs  of  the  nation’s  public  safety  agencies  well  into  the  21  st  century. 


 During  her  presentation,  Ms.  Wallman  described  recommended  narrowband  standards  that  will  ensure  that  police,  firefighters,  EMS  and  other  public  safety  officials  using  700  MHz  radios  can 
 communicate  with  one  another  instantly  on  common  voice  and  data  channels  anywhere  in  the  United  States.  She  also  described  the  capabilities  of  the  wideband  data  standard  recommended  by  the  NCC. 
 This  standard  gives  public  safety  agencies  a  common  “pipeline,”  on  700  MHz  wideband  data  interoperability  channels,  with  which  to  implement  such  applications  as  sending  mug  shots  and 
 fingerprints  to  police  vehicles,  medical  telemetry  from  EMS  units  to  hospitals,  blueprints  of  burning  buildings  to  firefighters  and  video  coverage  of  incidents  to  the  incident  commander. 


 The  NCC,  whose  charted  term  expired  on  July  25,  2003,  had  over  300  members  and  reached  its  recommendations  over  a  four-  year  period  using  consensus-  based  decision-  making.  It  was  guided  by 
 an  eleven-  member  Steering  Committee  and  used  three  subcommittees,  each  of  them  having  several  work  groups,  to  develop  its  recommendations,  many  of  them  highly  technical.  The  NCC  worked  with 
 the  Telecommunications  Industries  Association  –  an  accredited  standards  developer  –  to  develop  interoperability  technical  standards  that  are  open  and  non-  proprietary. 


 The  NCC  represented  a  valuable  information  conduit  between  the  public  safety  community  and  the  Commission.  That  conduit  will  remain  open  as  the  National  Public  Safety  Council  –  NPSTC  – 
 assumes  responsibility  for  advising  the  Commission  on  interoperability  and  other  public  safety  communications  issues  critical  to  the  safety  of  life  and  property  and  to  Homeland  Security. 


 For  more  information  on  the  work  of  the  NCC  visit:  http://  wireless.  fcc.  gov/  publicsafety/  ncc/ 
 -  FCC  - 
 Wireless  Telecommunications  Bureau  Contact:  Michael  Wilhelm  at  (202)  418-  0680  or  Michael.  Wilhelm@  fcc.  gov 
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