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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:  November  9,  2004  Lauren  Patrich  at  (202)  418-  7944 
 Email:  lauren.  patrich@  fcc.  gov 


 FCC  IMPROVES  PUBLIC  SAFETY  ACCESS  TO  THE  LATEST  BROADBAND  TECHNOLOGY 
 Increased  Access  Will  Support  Critical  Missions 
 Washington,  DC  –  Today,  the  Federal  Communications  Commission  took  an  important  step  to  enhance  homeland  security  by  improving  the  ability  of  public  safety  personnel  to  use 
 spectrum  at  4940-  4990  MHz  (4.9  GHz  band).  The  Commission  revised  technical  specifications  in  the  4.9  GHz  band  to  allow  manufacturers  to  adapt,  for  that  band,  technologies  that  are  being 
 used  in  adjacent  spectrum  bands,  such  as  the  5.4  GHz  Unlicensed  National  Information  Infrastructure  (U-  NII)  unlicensed  band  and  the  Intelligent  Transportation  System  (ITS)  band. 
 Specifically,  the  Commission  adopted  two  emission  masks  limiting  interference  potential  for  the  band,  one  for  low-  power  and  one  for  high-  power  operations.  These  changes  will  allow  public 
 safety  licensees  to  leverage  commercial  off-  the-  shelf  technologies  available  for  the  U-  NII  and  ITS  frequency  bands. 


 The  Commission  envisioned  that,  by  leveraging  technology  already  developed  for  adjacent  bands,  public  safety  licensees  could  use  a  single,  low-  cost  device  to  access  the  4.9  GHz 
 band,  the  U-  NII  band,  and  the  ITS  band,  allowing  them  to  enjoy  savings  that  are  typically  limited  to  the  high-  volume  commercial  market.  The  Commission’s  action  is  intended  to  provide 
 emergency  responders  with  easier  access  to  the  latest  broadband  technology  in  support  of  public  safety  and  homeland  security  missions,  such  as  wireless  local  area  networks  for  incident  scene 
 management,  emergency  dispatch  operations,  and  emergency  vehicular  operations. 
 Action  by  the  Commission,  November  9,  2004,  by  Memorandum  Opinion  and  Order  (FCC  04-  265).  Chairman  Powell,  Commissioners  Abernathy,  Copps,  Martin,  and  Adelstein. 


 FCC  Contact:  Tim  Maguire,  (202)  418-  2155,  email:  Tim.  Maguire@  fcc.  gov. 
 WT  Docket  No.  00-  32  -  FCC  - 
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